


Little Princess

by heartsdesire456



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Parenthood, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-30
Updated: 2013-04-30
Packaged: 2017-12-10 00:08:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 32,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/779540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce had been finally settled in and living comfortably with Tony and the other members of their team when the comfortable life he was just settling into was turned upside down in one visit from Coulson. </p><p>The news that Betty Ross had been killed in a car accident was terrible. </p><p>The news that he was being given custody of their daughter he didn't know existed was lifechanging.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Princess

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the summary, but none of us are really GOOD at those are we? This fic came from the most RANDOM idea ages ago (so random I forgot it) and then it was abandoned for a few months. Then I got inspiration, started on it, and paused two days later to write that last fic (barely literate!Clint) I posted. Then I began writing again and quickly I realized my theory of 'about 18k' was off by a little.
> 
> And now, we have this!

The day started out like any other day in the Avengers Tower. Tony and Bruce were having coffee in the kitchen after an all-nighter working on a new compound that they hoped would be lighter and more flexible than Kevlar but as easily made and even more capable of stopping bullets for their human and un-armored teammates. Barton was somewhere in the air vents with, annoyingly enough, an air-soft gun that Tony couldn’t confiscate for the life of him. Nobody knew where Natasha was as she’d been called out on mission a week before. Steve and Thor had gone out for a run while Thor was in town, as they often did. The only person who was officially at work was Coulson. He never got time off since he had moved into the tower with them. 

And judging by the paperwork he had just been delivered and the accompanying phone call from Fury confirming the information as well as informing him of an incoming, he wasn’t about to get time off either. 

Tony looked up to reply to Bruce just in time to catch both doors opening and Coulson coming in one while Steve and Thor came in the other. “Well now we have party-“

“Stark, you should probably step out,” Coulson started, immediately causing Banner to look up, shoulder’s tensed.

“Why does Tony need to leave but not me?” he asked curiously.

Steve and Thor exchanged looks. “Look, I don’t know what’s happening, but Coulson called us back in case you were going to… lose control,” he said delicately. “So maybe we should get Tony out before whatever is about to happen happens?” he suggested.

Tony stood up, going to stand beside Bruce’s chair. “Or how about we don’t?” he suggested, placing a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “What is ‘about to happen’ that could make Bruce lose control?” he asked.

Bruce looked up fearfully. “Is… has something… did I do something wrong?” he asked in a small, nervous voice.

“No of course not,” Tony said sharply, catching Bruce’s attention. “Whatever you have to say, say it, Coulson. Because I’m not going anywhere with this kind of half-assed bullshit. Not without knowing Bruce will be okay and I’m not abandoning him for some fucked up doublecross-“

“SHIELD isn’t really involved in this at all. Bruce is safe,” Coulson said, then sighed. “Look… fine, fine, Thor, Steve, out. Go to the living room. You’ll know if something happens.”

About that time Barton dropped from the ceiling, landing beside Coulson. “Sorry, Boss, but if there’s a chance Bruce could lose control in a confined room like this, I’m not leaving you here without cover,” he said, then smiled apologetically. “Sorry, Bruce. You know I trust you and all-“

Bruce waved a hand. “No, I understand, but will somebody tell me what’s going on?!” He looked at Tony. “Hey, whatever goes down, if it starts looking like I’m going green-“

“I’ll call the suit,” he said, showing Bruce the bracelet on his wrist. “I don’t like this build up, Coulson.”

Coulson nodded curtly. “I’m afraid this is a private matter. Stark, Barton, just outside the door is fine. No eavesdropping. That’s an order,” he said sternly.

Tony hesitated, as did Clint, and Coulson pinched the bridge of his nose. “What part of ORDER do you not understand?! I’m me, it isn’t like I’m going to hurt Bruce even if he wouldn’t just turn into Hulk and smash me! I’m your handler and you will do what I say,” he said, voice full of intimidation without any of the anger they knew was just there. 

Tony slid his hand down Bruce’s arm. “I’ll be right outside,” he said, squeezing Bruce’s hand before letting it top on his way out. “Two minutes, Coulson. Then I’m coming back in,” he warned, brushing past him on the way out.

Phil waited until the doors shut and sighed. He walked over and sat across from Bruce. “Doctor Banner… I’m afraid I have something to tell you that won’t be easy to handle, I don’t think.”

Bruce hesitated. “Is… is it another move to ‘erase’ me?” he asked and Phil smiled.

“No, not that type of thing.” He took a breath. “Look, I know it’s been a long time since you were last in contact, but… Betty Ross is dead,” he said and Bruce blanched.

“What?! Oh God,” he said, fidgeting. “God, what happened? They don’t think I’m involved do they? Is someone after me? Or after Hulk-“

Phil held up a hand. “No, nothing like that. She was killed in a car accident,” he said and Bruce sighed heavily, flinching.

“Well that’s… that’s terrible,” he said, hands shaking. “Thank you for telling me, Phil, but what does this have to do with me?”

Phil tugged at his tie, looking overly stressed. “Because that isn’t all. She left instructions upon the event of her death that a… ‘package’ be delivered to SHIELD so that her father couldn’t get his hands on this… package.”

Bruce frowned. “Was she working on something?” he asked uneasily. “Is that why you want me-“

Phil shook his head. “Bruce,” he whispered in a small voice. He held over the folder in his hand. “Here.”

Bruce took the folder and opened it, frowning as he put on his glasses. He skimmed the page before his eyes flickered back up to the top and his jaw dropped. “She- Betty has- had a daughter? She never said- how didn’t it come up-”

“According to the information the baby is six month’s old.” Bruce froze, eyes widening. Phil nodded. “If Ms. Ross wasn’t incorrect, according to the records, you are the father.” He looked at him. “Doing the math, that would have been just around the time of the incident in Harlem,” he said, giving him a pointed and questioning look.

Bruce dropped the file and put a shaking hand over his mouth. “It’s… oh God,” he breathed, resting his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. “Oh God,” he said once more. “Wait- fuck, is the baby even… okay? Normal? There’s no way I should’ve been able to reproduce after the gamma-“

Phil turned to the second page of the file, turning it back. “Ross kept notes and files on everything. It seems the pregnancy was normal and the child is healthy. No signs of anything at all wrong with the baby so far, but it is only six month’s old.” He put his hands together. “Look, Bruce. I only got a few hours head start so I can’t stop what’s in motion.”

Bruce looked up. “What do you mean?”

“You’re being given custody. The child is being brought here in about five hours.” He nodded. “SHIELD is passing final DNA checks to be sure she really is yours and then Hill is bringing the child herself to be transferred into your care.”

Bruce’s eyes flew wide. “What?! I can’t be given custody of a baby! I’m a fucking- I turn into a giant green freaking monster that destroys buildings and they want to give me a six month old baby?!” he cried, jumping up so fast his chair crashed to the floor. “Are they insane?! What part of this sounds anything less than fucking stupid-“ The door flew open and Tony and Clint both rushed in.

“I heard a crash, Bruce-“

“Phil, are you alright-“

Phil stood quickly. “We are perfectly fine, get OUT!”

Tony, however, ignored him, walking over to where Bruce was standing propped against the counter, fists white-knuckled against the edge. “Bruce? Bruce, talk to me,” he said gently, putting a hand on his lower back. “Bruce? Buddy?”

“I’m okay,” Bruce exhaled. “I’m not turning, Tony. It’s okay. I’ve got him-“

Tony slid his hands up Bruce’s back, pressing against him gently. “I’m way less worried about Hulk coming out and more worried about you. What happened?” he asked, nose brushing his nape. “You’re freaking out,” he said as he hugged him from behind.

Bruce shocked them all by turning in Tony’s arms and throwing his arms around Tony’s neck, clinging so tight with his face pressed into Tony’s neck and his hands fisted in Tony’s shirt that his hands were splotchy white and red. “Oh God this is just- I cannot even comprehend-“

“What is it?” Tony asked gently.

Bruce pulled back, looking up with genuine tears in his eyes. “I- I have a daughter.”

Tony’s sudden pallor was only matched and almost outdone by not only Barton, but by Thor and Steve, who had stood in the doorways, respectively.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce paced in front of the couch in the lab, where he and Tony had locked themselves in. “This is a bad idea. Jesus, what do I fucking do here?”

“Bruce,” Tony said gently from where he was lying on the couch, tossing a ball up and catching it. “You like children. You’re good with them-“

“I TURN INTO A HULK!” Bruce cried, facing him. “Tony, I turn into a monster. A well-trained one now, I’ll admit, but I turn into a thing that has a baby-sized THUMB! This is a six-month-old baby, I cannot be left alone with a baby, Tony. I can’t!” He turned around, tugging at his hair. “I shouldn’t be left alone with YOU but you’re a grown ass man who makes his own decisions-“

“And you’re not Hulk,” Tony said, standing up. “Look, I get it, I understand your worries, but Bruce…” he walked over to him, stopping him with a hand on his side. “Do you really think there is _anything_ in you capable of hurting a child?” he asked. He looked into his eyes. “Even Hulk. Do you think he could really hurt a baby?”

Bruce sighed. “Honestly probably not on purpose. You guys have helped him kind of get more aware, but he’s still a loose cannon. If he was disoriented or something, he’d blindly destroy shit and a baby can’t really run away.” He dropped his forehead to Tony’s shoulder. “We have to find somewhere for her,” he said heavily. “A family to adopt her or something.”

Tony frowned. “You sure?” he asked, ruffling Bruce’s hair. “I mean, I’m not totally comfortable with the idea of a child around, but you love kids, Bruce.” He turned to kiss his temple. “You’ve always wanted kids, Bruce. I know you have.”

Bruce snorted, lifting his head. “I don’t _get_ what I want, Tony. When have I ever got what I wanted?” he asked, walking away. “I lose everything eventually, Tony. I’m not going to risk having something I want that much and then losing it too. It’s best to find her a family before she gets hurt just because I want children and karma can’t let me-“

Tony sighed and shook his head, watching Bruce head over to Tony’s desk. “Bruce, you don’t have to be such a martyr. You can have things. It isn’t karma, it’s people being dicks. You don’t have to worry about things like that anymore.” He walked over and leaned against the desktop beside where Bruce was looking things up on the screen. “You have a team of friends who won’t _let_ people fuck up your life anymore. You have a boyfriend with enough money to make _anything_ go away. Nobody is going to hurt you without going through all of us and, if you want to have your daughter, nobody would ever get a chance to even look at her without going through all of us.” He looked down. “When did you learn my language?” he asked, watching Bruce typing away at the keyboard of shorthand that Tony had invented himself long ago. “I’ve never explained that to anybody and you use your own computer-“

Bruce rolled his eyes. “What part of ‘smarter than you’ don’t you get?” he teased, and Tony saw a small smile on his lips.

“You enjoy that way too much,” Tony groused, through there was no real intent behind his words.

Bruce shook his head. “Tony, it sounds great when you say that. Group of friends who are super heroes, billionaire genius boyfriend, living in the lap of luxury, life finally getting worth living-“ Tony flinched slightly. “But my ‘super hero’ friends? Sure, one is a god, one is a super solider, but both have loyalties they wouldn’t break if it came down to it. I wouldn’t expect them too. And Clint and Natasha are _spies_. They could change loyalties at the drop of a better deal. I like to think they won’t, but they could. Even Coulson is still SHIELD, no matter how much more awesome than them he is.” He looked up. “And how long will I have a boyfriend if I did decide to have a daughter, Tony?” he asked pointedly, looking into his eyes. “Be honest, you’re selfish and possessive. You want your things to be _yours_. You don’t share, you don’t play well with others, you can have anybody you want in any way you want them. Would you honestly handle sharing me with a _child_? One that would need me all the time. You would hate children. You hate putting up with adults of normal intelligence, how would you handle a _child_? You hate germs and children are germ-factories. You hate most everything that screams ‘child’ and you’d be having to not just let one live in this space but also share me with it.” Bruce shrugged. “What about that says you wouldn’t bail sooner or later?”

Tony stared at him in heartbroken silence before reaching out to cup his cheek. “I’ll give you three fucking words that say I would never do that: I love you,” he said fiercely. He slid off the desk and knelt beside Bruce. “Bruce… I know you have problems believing good things happen to you. I know you have more emotional scars than any of us. But I _love_ you.” He leaned in and kissed him tenderly. “I’m not giving you up without a fight, Banner. Never. Why would I leave you if I would do anything to make sure you never leave me?” he asked in a small, broken voice. “You want it straight? No, I don’t like the idea of having a child in my home. I like kids, I do, they’re very honest and I get along with them better, but living with one in the house gives me all kinds of minor freak outs. But I can suck it up and deal with it because _you_ would be a wonderful father and you have always wanted children.” He smiled. “I see you when we see kids anywhere we go. You adore children. Other than your fears, I know you would be happier than anything if you had your own child and now we found out _you do_. I’m selfish, sure. But I love you and anything that makes you that happy would be worth sucking it up and being a man about it.”

Bruce shook his head. “Tony-“

“No,” Tony said firmly. He stood up and kissed the top of Bruce’s head. “You can have this, Bruce. You know you can.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce was sitting and ignoring the conversation going on between Tony and Clint when the elevator doors pinged open. Coulson came off the elevator and nodded. “Alright, out everybody,” he said, looking at Clint pointedly.

Clint rolled his eyes. “And by ‘everybody’ you mean me, right?”

“Stark too,” Coulson said and Bruce grabbed Tony’s wrist. “Trust me, the last person you want around when Hill gets here is Stark.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “I think you’ll be okay, Big Guy,” he said, cupping Bruce’s cheek as he stood. “You can have this,” he added softly, pressing his lips to Bruce’s temple before pulling back. 

Bruce closed his eyes, leaning into Tony as he pulled away before nodding. “Okay.” He swallowed hard and gave Tony a shaky smile as he watched him walk out.

Coulson gave him an encouraging smile. “Don’t worry, Hill hates Stark, not you.”

Bruce chuckled. “Yeah, that’s comforting.” Bruce watched Coulson walk out and sat with his hands clasped together, knee bouncing as he waited for the inevitable. When the elevator doors dinged open again, Bruce stood quickly, shuffling and wringing his hands as Hill walked in, a bag over one shoulder and a pink carrier in her other.

“Dr. Banner,” she said, face as straight as ever as she came closer. She put the bag on the couch and then lifted the baby carrier onto the table. “She’s asleep, but I doubt she’ll be that way for long.” She pulled a file folder out of the bag. “Here’s her information. All her clothes and toys are in the bag along with some diapers and a few bottles already made up. I think I did it right but I don’t know shit about children.” Bruce chuckled and took the folder.

“I actually know a lot about kids, so if they aren’t, I can get the stuff quickly enough without having to learn anything.” He opened it and felt a jolt. “Amelia Elizabeth Banner. Wow, she named you ‘Banner’. Didn’t expect that,” he mumbled more to himself than anything.

“We good here?” Hill asked, and Bruce looked up to speak, only to be interrupted by a whining from the carrier.

Bruce put the folder down and immediately stepped closer. He looked down into the carrier and his heart _leapt_ when he saw the baby for the first time. He crouched down, taking a sharp breath when she opened her eyes. “Jesus,” he whispered, lifting a hand without thinking to touch her cheek. She had a head full of dark, curly hair and the biggest blue eyes he had ever seen. “Wow,” he breathed, staring right back at the baby that was staring up at him.

“Um, Dr. Banner, we good her?” Hill restated and Bruce nodded, swallowing dryly.

“Yeah, thanks,” he said, carefully unbuckling the baby carrier so he could reach in and lift the baby out. “Hey Amelia,” he said softly, biting his lip when he picked her up. She looked at him with wide eyes, making very little noise as he held her in front of him. She kicked her feet a little and he sat down on the couch heavily, eyes wide as he absolutely could not look away. He didn’t even hear Hill leaving. “So… Um, hi?” he said, then rolled his eyes when she just stared, kicking her feet some. “I’m talking to a baby, of course you won’t understand.” He sat her on his lap, smiling when she sat on her own when he took her hands. “I’m your daddy,” he said, a warm feeling bubbling up inside of him. “God, I’m your _daddy_ ,” he whispered, a bright smile erupting across his face. “You’re so beautiful,” he said, voice breaking slightly. He looked at her big blue eyes and bit his lip. “Amelia, you are… you’re just…” He swallowed again, fighting the lump in his throat. “You’re _mine_ ,” he squeaked, laughing weakly. “I’m a father,” he breathed, barely trusting the words he thought for so long that he would never say. “I have a child, oh my God, how are you real?!” he asked with a laugh, shifting to pull her against his body, lips pressed to her tiny little head as he held her in his arms. He blinked hard, fighting back tears as he sniffled weakly. “You’re the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen, Amelia. So perfect.” 

He pulled back and looked at her little face. “Hey, so, um… you hungry? You’re probably hungry right?” He held her with one arm as he stood, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. “C’mon, let’s see what we’ve got in here, okay?” he asked, shuffling her onto his hip as he picked up the bag and headed towards the kitchen.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce was sitting against the arm of the couch, knees drawn up with Amelia lying asleep along the groove of his thighs, just watching her sleep when Tony and Steve came in, bickering about something.

Thor at their heels was the first to notice Bruce and the baby. “Friends! Silence your dispute; you shall wake the child!” he announced in an amusingly loud voice for someone telling people to be quiet.

Tony looked up quickly, eyes settling on Bruce, who was once again gazing down at his lap. “Hey, that it?” he asked, walking over with an interested look.

Bruce looked up and gave him a stern look. “She’s not an ‘it’.” He smiled a small yet brilliant smile. “She’s sleeping,” he said, finger touching her little lips. “Look at her,” he breathed as Tony got to his side and crouched to look over his shoulder at the baby. “Tony, she’s beautiful,” he whispered and Tony chuckled.

“I take it my pep talk worked?” he teased.

Bruce gave him a warm smile. “Pretty sure even without your pep talk, my idea of ‘I can’t be trusted with a baby’ would’ve lost out the second I looked at her and realized she’s _mine_ ,” he pointed out. 

Tony made a dramatic pouty face. “So I didn’t help? You’re just claiming all the recognition for your own.”

Bruce chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Fine, you definitely helped. Happy?” he joked. He sighed and leaned his head against Tony’s shoulder, looking at the sleeping baby. “Tony, she’s so beautiful.”

Tony chuckled. “She looks kind of like a marshmallow with hair,” he said. “How did your kid turn out so white?” he asked. “I mean, that’s totally your nose and mouth, but she’s like paper!”

Bruce snickered. “Well, I did spend a year in India, one can work up quite a tan like that,” he pointed out. “But it’s probably her mother,” he said, voice a little tighter.

“Ah my friend!” Thor clapped a hand on Bruce’s shoulder as he leaned over the back of the couch. “I congratulate you on producing such a fine babe. Clearly hearty and healthy, given its size at such a young age.”

Bruce gave him a smile. “Thanks, Thor. But you have to remember, we age way faster than you guys. Six month old babies can often sit and stand when you hold their hands. Some of them can begin babbling and trying to talk. You guys grow so old your six month olds are probably still completely newborn.”

Thor nodded. “This much is true. Though we do not have as long a childhood as you might expect. Still, your babe is quite healthy looking.”

Steve sat down across from the couch, smiling at the baby sleeping in Bruce’s lap. “Gee, she’s pretty cute, Bruce.” He looked at him. “So… what’s the story? We didn’t get the story so feel free to not tell us, but everybody’s pretty curious. Even Clint.”

Clint dropped out of nowhere, it seemed, and sat beside Steve. “Fuck yeah I’m curious! Coulson won’t say shit.”

Tony glared at them. “How about you guys shut up-“

“No, Tony, it’s okay,” Bruce said softly. He sighed and looked up with a sad smile. “Her mother died in a car accident yesterday. She had it made clear that if something happened to her she wanted Amelia sent to SHIELD so they could protect her baby from her father.”

Tony smiled. “She’s named Amelia?”

Bruce nodded. “Amelia Elizabeth Banner.” Tony looked surprised and Bruce chuckled. “Yeah, I’m shocked she named her Banner.”

Steve grinned. “That’s a beautiful name. I’ve always liked Elizabeth.”

“Betty’s name was Elizabeth,” he said softly.

Thor walked over to sit in the chair near the couch where Steve and Clint were sitting. “This Betty. Was she your woman?” he asked and Bruce chuckled when Clint and Steve both gave him offended looks.

“You don’t call them your ‘woman’ here,” he said, then shook his head with a sad smile. “No,” he said. “She wasn’t my wife if that’s what you mean.” He sighed. “She would’ve been though,” he added. 

Steve frowned. “What happened, then?”

Clint smirked. “When a mommy and a daddy REALLY love each other-“

Steve glared. “Yeah, I get that part, I’m not five!”

Bruce snickered. “Betty Ross was-“

Clint’s jaw dropped. “Thunderbolt Ross’s daughter?! I knew your file had a woman and I knew your accident was on General Ross’s program to recreate Erskine’s super soldier serum but-“

“She was a scientist,” Bruce said. He shook his head. “I was a loser. I was shy and quiet and depressed. I didn’t have anybody in the world. The Army put me through college after I got expelled from high school without graduating and when they realized I was a genius, not just good with science, they figured if anybody could recreate the formula, it was me. I met Betty when I was sent to General Ross for the program.” He smiled sadly as he stared absently at the sleeping baby. “She was kind. She was the first person to be nice to me since my cousin. She didn’t tease me, she didn’t try to make me mad because I had a temper and people liked to fuck with me. She was-“ He sighed. “She was the first person since my mother to ever love me,” he whispered. “We were going to get married,” he explained. “When we finished the super soldier project, we were going to get married, buy a home, have children- everything I never had and everything I wanted then. We were going to finish our project and then leave the army and human experimenting behind us. Maybe be teachers or something, you know?” he said with a shrug. “It even sounded good: Bruce and Betty Banner,” he mumbled fondly.

Steve gave him a sympathetic look and Thor frowned. “What happened then? Did you not achieve your goals?”

Bruce snorted. “I’d say so.” He turned his head to Thor. “The reason I turn into the Hulk is because we were using radiation to experiment to try and create super soldiers like Steve. There was an accident and an assistant was in the lab when we went into testing. I ran in to save him. I got him out, but got caught in the explosion.” He nodded to Tony. “He was right, I should’ve died. The best I can figure, I must’ve had some sort of latent mutation that never manifested itself. I’d always had a temper,” he admitted. “I never got violent, I wasn’t one to blow up and hit people or anything- mostly because I’d been hit enough to know what it was like- but when I got really angry I went full on red-haze and I’d break things, I’d scream at nothing. I didn’t want to hurt people most of the time, I just got so enraged I’d go somewhere alone and break things and scream and cry, even,” he admitted. “When the gamma explosion hit me, I guess my inner anger exploded into an actual alter-ego.”

Tony nodded. “Your giant green rage monster,” he said and Bruce chuckled.

“My giant green rage monster,” he said with a dramatic eye roll. “But the point is, when that happened, the army turned on me and I ran away. I left and didn’t see Betty for five years.”

Clint raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? And how exactly does one reproduce without even seeing someone?”

Bruce blushed. “Um… know the whole ‘Harlem remodel’ I was responsible for?” He coughed distractedly. “I saw her then. Uh… about a year and a few months ago.”

Clint smirked. “Bruce, you dog!”

Bruce sighed. “It’s not funny, okay? Seriously, it was wrong, I was too dangerous to even be near her and she had a boyfriend,” he admitted. “But yeah… after what I did, after all the people I hurt? I ran. I ran and never looked back.” He cringed. “And I guess Betty knew I was gone for good because I never heard about Amelia.”

Steve frowned. “You were back a few months before this accident, though. Why wouldn’t she look for you?”

Bruce snorted. “Yeah, like she’d have wanted anything to do with me. Face it, I killed people. A lot of people. People she liked and was friends with. I would’ve killed more. And she had to know I only came back because SHIELD dragged me back. She did what she should have: forgot about me and went on with her life.” He shrugged. “I did. I’ve been back for months and I knew I could’ve found her at any time. But I didn’t. I got on with my life after that last time.” He smiled and nodded at Tony. “I totally went gay, pretty sure that’s as far ‘getting on’ as I could’ve gone.”

Clint made a face. “You weren’t into dude’s before Stark?! Why the hell did you go for HIM?”

Stark shot him a look. “Have you _seen_ the amount of tail I’ve gotten in my life? It’s clear I’m attractive-“

“Your wallet is attractive,” Steve pointed out. “You’re… short. And kind of old-“

“You’re like ninety!” Tony argued.

Bruce chuckled. “I fell in love with Tony’s brain, not his face, Clint, or his wallet, Steve,” he explained simply. Tony smirked. “What? It’s true. It’s not every day two geniuses meet each other. Meeting someone almost as smart as me was seriously sexy.”

Tony gave him a positively filthy look. “The fact I’m seriously okay with you gloating about being _smarter_ than me says all I need about how sexy your brain is,” he said playfully. “For the record,” he added, holding up a finger. “I was always partying on both private jets.”

Clint gave Bruce an awkward look. “So… you still gonna be partying on his private jet now that he has a kid?”

Tony huffed. “Why does everybody think I’m going to leave my boyfriend because he has a kid?”

Bruce sighed. “Because you’re selfish?” he asked and Tony pouted playfully. Bruce leaned over and pecked his lips. “Hey, you convinced me and I’m the one that counts, right?”

Tony nodded, then stopped, turning his head as something caught his eyes. “Holy crap,” he breathed, looking at Amelia. Bruce looked down and beamed when he saw she was awake and looking at him. “Good God, how does any child of yours have eyes that blue? I’ve never SEEN eyes that blue. Clint has really blue eyes, but those eyes… Jesus.”

Bruce smiled sadly. “Her mother had really blue eyes.” He chuckled. “I’m telling you, Amelia better hope she grows up looking like Betty. Betty was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Although…” He picked Amelia up with a smile. “Amelia is winning right now.”

She whimpered when he picked her up and started crying when her feet left his lap. Tony looked afraid. “Whoa, you made it mad!” 

Bruce just grinned. “She’s just hungry,” he said, standing up. “C’mon, let’s go get you a bottle,” he said, kissing her head. “Oh, I know,” he said over her crying as he turned and stepped over Tony. “I know, daddy isn’t quick enough for your hungry tummy, huh? Hey, Tony?” He stopped and looked back. “I know I should’ve done it earlier, but can you get somebody to go get a crib and stuff for a nursery? She can sleep in the carrier tonight, but she really needs a crib.”

Tony nodded. “Sure thing, I’ll call Pepper,” he said, watching as Bruce headed out into the kitchen.

As soon as Bruce was gone, Clint turned to Tony. “So, how long before you lose it and can’t handle the kid anymore?” he goaded.

Steve frowned. “You better not hurt Bruce just because he has a baby now,” he warned.

Thor looked confused. “I do not understand. What would Tony lose? And why would it hurt Banner? Is this some earth tradition I do not know?”

Tony glared. “Hey, I’m better than that! I’m not going to lose it or hurt him, what’s wrong with you two?”

Steve shot him a look. “You’re selfish and childish.”

“I love my boyfriend,” Tony countered. “And so what, he has a kid! She’s cute! Loud and a little annoying, sure, but you saw him,” he added. “Bruce loves children. He’s wanted to be a father forever. He managed to produce a child and she’s in his care now. Why the hell would I have a problem with something making one of the most self-loathing people I know happy?”

Thor gave him a nod. “And you shall prove them wrong!” he proclaimed vehemently. “A noble man like Tony does not scorn a man for caring about his child. Children are glorious gifts to all and Banner is lucky to have been granted such a blessing.”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “Do you have any children?” he asked skeptically.

Thor chuckled. “No, my friends. I have no children as of yet. However, I hope one day to be blessed in fathering many offspring!” He nodded. “What of you, my friends? I know Stark has no children, but what of you?”

Clint snorted. “Are you kidding me? I’ve been screwing the same man for five years now, kids aren’t in my future even if I do escape spy-dome someday.”

Steve shook his head. “Can’t. Even if I wanted to marry a gal and have a family, after the serum, I’m pretty much not a human really anymore. I don’t age, I’m practically incapable of death without being seriously destroyed, and I really doubt I can reproduce in any way besides being cloned or something. Even if I could, it would be a terrible thing to outlive your children,” he said with a small wince.

Tony hopped up. “I gotta go research nurseries!” he announced, jogging down the hall with a clear purpose.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce was yawning as he meandered into the kitchen. Steve looked at him with a frown. “Were you up again with Stark all night? I thought his lab was empty last night when I came past.”

Bruce smiled tiredly, grabbing the coffee instead of the kettle. “No, baby, remember? Babies wake up a lot. They get hungry and wet and things,” he said, sitting down heavily with his mug. “What do you mean ‘empty’, though?” he asked, frowning. “Tony didn’t come to bed last night, I figured he was in the lab.”

Steve shook his head. “I didn’t see him there or in the garage when I came back last night,” he answered.

Bruce paused. “Where the hell is he, then? Tony’s always either working on his cars, working in his lab, working in my lab, or doing real business. He didn’t have anything scheduled, I checked on some things in my lab before I came up here, and you said he wasn’t in his lab or the garage.”

Steve shrugged. “Maybe I just missed him, or something-“

“Doctor Banner,” JARVIS interrupted. “Mr. Stark requests your presence whenever you get a chance at the end of the hallway outside your bedroom.”

Bruce chuckled. “Well, clearly we have our answer,” he said, yawning as he stood. “I better go see what he’s up to,” he said, nodding to Steve as he shuffled out, nursing his mug tiredly. When Bruce finally reached the hall, he saw Tony standing at the end, watching for him. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” he said, taking another sip of coffee as he walked towards Tony. When he got to him, he raised an eyebrow. “What’re you up to?”

Tony smiled brightly, though his cheek had a smudge of blue paint and there was white dust in his hair. “Good morning, beautiful,” he greeted, pecking Bruce’s lips, only to steal his coffee and sigh as he took a drink. “Mmmmm, oh yeah, beautiful is the right word here.” He winked at Bruce. “You’re alright, too,” he joked and Bruce rolled his eyes, though he still found it somewhat cute in spite of himself.

“Alright, what’s up?” Bruce asked, stealing his coffee back.

Tony beamed. “I have a surprise!” he said, then swung open the door, gesturing Bruce in. “After you,” he said with a sweeping bow. Bruce walked in, only to stop and gape, eyes wide as he barely managed to keep from dropping his coffee.

It was a nursery. More fairly stated, it was a nursery like nothing Bruce had ever seen. The walls were a light blue with a thin black band going around the lower half almost like a chair-rail. The floor was a soft, warm, comfortable dark gray carpet. There was a black dresser with a changing station on top, a crib made of the same black plastic looking material, as well as a black rocking chair in the corner. Across from the crib was a giant foam mat with boxes and shelves covered in toys and books. The green and blue foam matched the bedding on the crib and the seat and back of the rocking chair. Bruce walked over to the crib, looking at the little mobile with metal molecules hanging on it, and placed his hands on the side only to discover that the black ‘plastic’ looking material was really some sort of soft, rubbery material. The mattress was made of a similar material, only softer, beneath the bedding. 

“Tony,” Bruce whispered, reaching up to touch the little molecules almost reverently.

“So… is this okay?” Tony asked and Bruce turned back to face the doorway, where Tony was lingering with a nervous look on his face. “I didn’t know much but I figured some Google and improvising would make it where I could build a nursery as good as, if not better than, something normal.

Bruce raised an eyebrow and touched the crib rail again. “You built these?” he asked.

Tony nodded, stepping into the room as he uncrossed his arms. “Yeah, it’s a hypo-allergenic rubber-like polymer. Originally it was designed to minimize impact in the suit since it used to still hurt like hell to crash into things. I tweaked it a little to make it thinner and built metal furniture and coated it with a spray gun. It’s quick dry, like the paint, so that it would be done and set while I had somebody put down the carpet and insert the foam padded play area. The bookcases are built of the same stuff so that all the corners are soft enough that she won’t get hurt when she starts crawling around-“

Bruce cut him off, whispering almost reverently as he crossed to meet him in the center of the room. “I asked you to have a crib ordered and instead you _built_ my baby a nursery using components of your Iron Man suit?”

Tony rubbed at the back of his neck. “Kind of. If I got it wrong, I can totally start over-“

Bruce cut him off by tugging him into a kiss by the front of his shirt. “Tony,” he laughed softly, sliding a hand into Tony’s hair. “You built my daughter a nursery. In one night you manufactured and installed a nursery for the baby that showed up just yesterday out of nowhere.”

Tony gave him a warm look. “Bruce, I adapt quickly. And besides, the way you look at Amelia is the way I want you to always look,” he admitted, sliding his arms around Bruce’s waist. “You always expect me to get over you, Bruce. I’m not going to get over you and I’m not going to ignore that you have a baby, okay?” He kissed Bruce’s temple. “So!” He pulled back and smiled at Bruce. “You have a JARVIS baby monitor, better than anything commercial that’s for sure. JARVIS will know if she even breathes funny. Also, I know you’re worried about having a fragile baby around a bunch of super-human superheroes and all,” he started, then gestured around the room. “So I picked this room.” Bruce raised an eyebrow and Tony rocked them back and forth some with a brilliant grin on his face. “This was originally going to be my bedroom when the tower was first redesigned so the walls and windows are reinforced to the point that they could withstand pretty much everything besides a direct-hit from a nuke.” 

Bruce’s eyes lit up with understand. “Or, a raging, scared Hulk?” he asked hopefully and Tony nodded.

“Your big, green friend would just hit the wall and dent it some,” he confirmed.

Bruce sighed in relief, letting his head fall to Tony’s shoulder. “You are unreal. This is such a relief, Tony. This is so much. Jesus, you used superhero tech to build a _nursery_ for my baby.”

Tony kissed the side of his head. “Awesome babies deserve awesome rooms. Amelia has the most awesome dad ever, therefore, she is an awesome baby and now she has an awesome room.”

Bruce pulled back some in the circle of Tony’s arms and smiled at him. “Thank you, Tony.” He leaned in to kiss him sweetly, hand cupping the back of his neck. “You are… incredible.”

Tony shrugged absently. “I love you, is all,” he muttered simply. 

Bruce laughed and nodded. “Clearly I’m a lucky guy. I’m a dad and my boyfriend is the most amazing man in the world.” He kissed Tony once more. “Thank you so much.”

“No problems, big guy,” Tony said, patting his hip. “It’s what a good boyfriend would do.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Thor was bouncing Amelia gently when Bruce and Tony came back to the kitchen. “Ah, Bruce I apologize but she was crying quite loudly,” he said, offering her to him. “I couldn’t bear to let the little one continue to cry.”

Bruce smiled and took her. “It’s okay,” he said, then smiled brightly as he pulled her to his side. “Hey there,” he cooed. He kissed her curls. “I take it you’re good with children?”

Thor nodded. “I have had many nieces and nephews.” He paused. “Granted, most were animals, but children are children.”

Bruce chuckled and rocked Amelia. “Come on, let’s get you some food and then we can go see the new nursery Tony built you,” he said, carrying her to the refrigerator. “We’ll stick with a bottle now so you don’t barf all over me, okay?” He smiled at her while he warmed up the bottle some.

“Tony _built_ a nursery?” Steve asked, looking skeptical. 

Bruce grinned bashfully. “Yeah, that’s where he went last night. He built a nursery. For my baby,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Tony shrugged dismissively. “I had some time. The baby needed a room. Bruce needed to know he had the best room possible for her.” Everybody gave him surprised looks and he huffed. “What?! I’m not a bad person.”

“You built a nursery… for a baby,” Steve said pointedly. “I figured you’d complain about it being in the house, not give it a nursery.”

Tony shuffled over and curled a hand around Bruce’s hip. “Hey, you aren’t an it, don’t listen to Steve,” he said, looking at her over Bruce’s shoulder. “You know, you’re cute,” he admitted, resting his chin on Bruce’s shoulder to look right at her. “You look like your daddy, so you’re definitely cute.”

Bruce chuckled and rolled his eyes. “You’re being unusual this morning, Tony,” he said, turning to peck his cheek before getting the heated bottle to feed Amelia. “I like it though.”

Tony smirked. “You’re my favorite, of course I’m nicer to you and your kid. Don’t be confused.” He made a face at Amelia, smiling when she giggled. “I like your mini-me. She’s cute as a button and, contrary to popular belief, I really like kids.”

Bruce gave him a warm smile as he handed Amelia the bottle. “I’m glad you do,” Bruce said, turning to bump his shoulder against Tony’s affectionately before he walked out, cooing at Amelia as she ate.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“I lied, I hate babies,” Tony grumbled, looking down at the shirt Amelia had projectile vomited on from her spot in Bruce’s arms _next_ to him.

Bruce chuckled in amusement as he cleaned Amelia up. “It’s okay, shhhh,” he rocked her as she cried. “Come on, you’re okay,” he said, standing up. “Sorry, Tony, but babies throw up.” He shrugged as he stood up. “Come on, let’s go clean you up, okay?” he said, kissing Amelia’s head on the way out.

Tony groaned. “I think I’m going to go bleach myself,” he said to Steve, who just snickered at Tony as he walked out, holding his shirt away from his skin.

Tony tried rinsing off his shirt in the sink before laying it out in hopes it would be saved once it was laundered, but he didn’t hold high hopes. He climbed in the shower and was only in there a few minutes before the door opened. “Shirt savable?” Bruce asked from outside the shower door.

Tony snorted. “I don’t hold much hope but I’m giving it a shot.” He saw through the frosted glass that Bruce was rinsing out his shirt as well. “Where’s the little one? I figured you’d still be cleaning her up.

Bruce laughed. “Nah, I cleaned her up and laid her down. She was sleepy from all the crying.” He walked over and opened the shower door. “Got room for one more,” he teased and Tony smirked, stepping aside to let Bruce in with him. Bruce immediately pulled Tony into a kiss, backing them both under the water. “Sorry about the barfing thing, Tony. Really.”

Tony sighed, shaking his head. “Well, it’s not pleasant but you said it, babies throw up.” He curled his arms around Bruce’s waist. “I’m just never sitting beside whoever is holding one again,” he said and Bruce let out a laugh before pulling Tony into a hug, arms around Tony’s neck as they stood in an embrace. Tony turned and pressed his lips to Bruce’s shoulder. “So, you have something in mind?” he asked and Bruce smirked.

“Mmmmm, well I didn’t exactly climb in here just to get clean,” Bruce drawled, pressing their lower halves together to show his interest. “Got any ideas?”

Tony moaned, pulling back so he could kiss Bruce. “I have tons of ideas.” He slowly turned them so that he could push Bruce against the shower wall. “Spoiler alert: they all involve orgasms,” he whispered against his lips.

Bruce shivered, eyes bright. “I like those kinds of ideas.”

Tony chuckled against his lips. “I bet you do.” Bruce’s reply was lost in a kiss.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“No, look, you have the math wrong-“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I do _not_ get math wrong-“

“This should be _absolute value_ of x, you’re carrying a negative number when this formula doesn’t work that way-“

“I think I remember my vector equations-“

“Tony.” Bruce gave him a no-nonsense look that shut Tony up. “Who is the physicist?”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Who is the engineer?” he countered. “I know more about the practical application of math than you do, Bruce, I build things-“ He stopped suddenly then frowned at his notepad. “Well shit.” He grumbled and scratched out the problem written down.

Bruce smirked. “Absolute value of x?”

Tony pointed at him without looking up. “You can kiss the absolute value of my ass, Banner.” 

Bruce walked over and looked over his shoulder, interrupted with his own pen to carry a one Tony had missed. “You should use a calculator. They don’t forget to carry their ones.”

Tony huffed. “I am an engineering prodigy, I know my math. Calculators are too slow.”

Bruce grinned. “That I can agree with.” He hopped up onto the lab table next to Tony. “Hey, it’s okay you need to check your math. It’s good to know you’re more normal.”

Tony chuckled. “Oh yeah I’m the normal one.” He looked up at Bruce quickly. “Square root of five-million six-hundred and seven.

Bruce didn’t even hesitate. “Two two three six point two zero three seven zero-“

“Jesus, you didn’t even think about that, seriously?!” Tony cried in disbelief. “I mean, sure, I could _do_ it mentally but I’d need a second.” Bruce just smirked. Tony shook his head, standing up as he dropped his pen on the table. “That is so hot,” he said hoarsely, tugging Bruce around to face him by his thighs as he seamlessly stepped between his knees and kissed him.

Bruce hummed happily, sliding his hands into Tony’s hair as Tony kissed him. “Who would’ve thought the same thing that got me teased in high school would get a really hot guy making out with me?” he asked and Tony laughed, tugging him into another kiss.

“Still can’t believe you even _did_ high school. I had graduated from MIT by then and you’re even smarter than me,” Tony said, kissing along Bruce’s jaw towards his throat.

Bruce hummed, shivering slightly as Tony’s lips worked at his skin. “Well, my dad hated me and even before my mom died he refused to give me special treatment.” 

“Oh yeah that’s real sexy talk there,” Tony said, leaning back to look at him. “Super heroes and our daddy issues, huh?” he joked and Bruce smiled bashfully.

“We’re all a little fucked up but I’m pretty sure none of you guys attempted mass murder before you could vote,” he said and Tony froze. Bruce frowned. “What?”

“What the hell, Bruce?!” Tony countered, looking at him suspiciously. “What do you mean ‘attempted mass murder’?”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know that part?” 

“Obviously not because I don’t even know what ‘that part’ is!” Tony pulled back some, hands resting on Bruce’s knees. “What the fuck?”

Bruce cringed but nodded. “When I was in high school I tried to blow up my school. I got expelled. Technically I didn’t graduate high school, I skipped graduation and went to college because the Army was impressed a random kid built a bomb as advanced as I did basically winging it.”

Tony just stared, skin losing some of its color. “What the hell?” he asked in a smaller, sadder voice. “Bruce, you tried to _blow up_ your high school?”

Bruce took a breath and nodded, ducking his eyes. “I told you, I got picked on a lot. Having serious issues isn’t a Hulk-related thing,” he joked darkly. “First suicide attempt was that. I built the bomb, put it in the basement, and tried to set it off so it would take me and half the assholes who teased me out too. It just didn’t work and I got expelled instead of dead with a side of homicidal revenge.”

Tony flinched. “Jesus, I hate hearing you talk about being suicidal.” He pulled Bruce into a hug, hanging onto him. “Promise you won’t let yourself get that bad without talking to me, okay?” He kissed the side of Bruce’s head. “I can’t lose you like that.” He smiled. “Besides, Amelia needs her daddy.”

Bruce smiled brightly. “Nah, I’ve got a couple of really good reasons to stay alive now.” He kissed Tony sweetly, stroking his cheek. “I’m not going anywhere of my own volition anymore.”

Tony caught him in a kiss, grinning against his lips. “I can think of somewhere we could go,” he purred, pulling Bruce flush to him, sneaking a grab of his ass.

Bruce chuckled and slid off the table. “Sounds good to me,” he said, tugging Tony around towards the door. “C’mon-“

“Mr. Stark, Doctor Banner, it would appear Miss Amelia is awake and hungry, sirs,” JARVIS interrupted.

Bruce groaned, giving Tony an apologetic look. Tony sighed, rolling his eyes. “Of course she is,” he grumbled and Bruce laughed.

“Sorry, Tony,” he said, pecking his lips before pulling away. “Thanks, JARVIS.” Bruce shrugged. “Duty calls,” he said and Tony just laughed and shook his head, turning back to his lab table.

“Oh well I guess I need to do some math anyways, huh?”

Bruce smirked on his way out the door. “Maybe I can build you a faster calculator,” he called, earning a certain finger waved in his direction.

Once Bruce was gone, Tony turned back to his math. “JARVIS, can you find me a list of SHIELD approved shrinks?”

“For yourself, sir?”

Tony sighed, rubbing a hand over his head. “No, just in case Bruce ever needs one. I doubt that will happen but I’m not risking him needing help and us not having someone cleared. I want full background checks on a few of the best, got it?”

“Yes, sir.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
For the first few months Amelia was around, Bruce was able to manage to not have to leave the tower at all. When they had Avengers missions, he was able to stay behind and give tips from the tower for any situations they might need. It did make it harder to get some of the bigger threats in a timely fashion without Hulk’s help, and people definitely noticed Hulk’s absence in the media, but it kept Bruce from having to leave Amelia. He also called off the conferences he enjoyed so that he could stay home. He knew he could probably use some time to himself, but in the end, working in the labs and occasionally going down to give lectures on the business floors of the tower meant that he had absolutely no need or desire to leave the tower.

It was an environmental conference that finally drew out his inner need to do something _away_ from home.

Bruce was reading the invitation to give a lecture on dangers of hydraulic fracturing when Tony came in from the latest Avengers mission, arriving a few hours ahead of the others who had to get clearance to leave SHIELD headquarters. Bruce glanced up and saw the pink slime all over the Iron Man suit, which Tony was still wearing for some reason. “Rough day at the office?” Bruce asked, fighting a smirk.

Tony glowered and pointed at him, flipping up the faceplate. “If you weren’t holding a baby I’d come hug you,” he threatened.

Bruce grinned outright, putting the invitation down as he stood and shifted Amelia to his hip. “What the hell is that stuff?” he asked, coming only slightly closer.

Tony cringed. “Monster guts. Just… just take it from there, long story,” he said, then made a face. “Sticky monster guts. The seals on the suit are stuck. The runway removal system isn’t designed for yanking so I’ve got to go to the lab to get out of the suit.”

Bruce mockingly fluttered his eyelashes and sighed. “The glamorous life of the superhero-“

“Shut it, you,” Tony grumbled, stomping away. Bruce just smiled and went to start cooking, sure the team would be hungry when the returned.

A while later, once the rest of the time had arrived, Tony came back just in time for dinner. Bruce was stirring a pot of something while the team waited anxiously at the table they rarely ate at off to the side of the massive kitchen rather than in the living room or in the dining room. Tony was still damp from the shower when he hugged Bruce from behind, smirking when Bruce made a noise about the water dripping from Tony’s hair down his neck. “Mmmm love you too,” he joked, rubbing his wet hair along Bruce’s shoulder.

“Ew, gross, you’re like a wet dog,” Bruce whined, shrugging him off. “Just for that, you don’t get any food-“

“Like hell I don’t,” Tony laughed, kissing his neck before pulling away. “You didn’t get pink goo all over you,” he whined, walking over to the refrigerator, looking for a bottle of water.

Bruce laughed. “Actually, it was green goo for me,” he said, nodding over to where Amelia was in her high-chair next to his space. “We had smashed peas for lunch. Things didn’t go so well.”

Tony beamed and walked over. “That’s what I’m talking about, Kid!” He sat down on her other side from Bruce’s chair and held out his hand then grabbed her’s, making them high-five. “Good job, Amelia. Get your daddy all gross since he didn’t have to fight the monsters. All is fair in the world and you’re still my favorite,” he said, then lowered his voice into a mock whisper. “Don’t tell Daddy he isn’t my favorite.”

Natasha was the first to snort. “Does that mean Bruce can be my favorite? Because he shuts you up occasionally, therefore he’s my favorite.”

“Seconded,” Steve offered, earning a snicker from Clint.

“No offence, Bruce, but I have my own favorite already,” he called over to Bruce.

Bruce smiled when he came over to the table bearing a giant serving bowl of rice. “Well, Thor isn’t here but I’m sure I’m his favorite too, so it’s all good. I’m the smartest so it makes sense you all worship me as your superior-“

Natasha rolled her eyes with a huff. “I lied, you’ve been around Stark too much. He corrupted you.”

Tony shook his head. “I’m telling you, you all missed the snark! You saw this sweet, innocent, doe-eyed science geek when really Bruce’s doctorate degree was Sass with a minor sarcasm.” He winked at Bruce. “He’s got more smartass comebacks than I do, you guys just don’t catch his sarcasm because he says smart people things and you’re… well, normal.”

Clint smirked. “Oh I know Bruce is a smartass,” he said, then shrugged at Natasha. “You don’t get a lot of pop-culture references, Steve doesn’t get… well any pop-culture references,” he shrugged apologetically at Steve before continuing, “And Thor doesn’t understand the idea of sarcasm still.” He waved a hand. “As sardonic and dry-witted as you are, Bruce, I’m just kind of immune at this point. Comes with the territory of spending the past decade speaking almost daily with the Sassmaster General.”

Bruce smirked. “I’m going to tell Coulson you called him that.”

“Called me what, Dr. Banner?” They all looked up when Coulson came striding in, carrying a stack of files. Just as Bruce sat down the pot full of butter chicken, he began dropping files on top of people’s plates before they could serve themselves food. “I love how everybody seems to think they can get one up on me by stealing the jet instead of coming to get clearance. I’m not doing your paperwork again,” he said flatly, crossing his arms as he looked around the table. “Clear?”

Tony tipped his head back, looking up at Coulson, who stood behind him. “Can I trade my body in exchange for you doing my paperwork for me?”

Coulson didn’t even roll his eyes. “Stark, there is only one person at this table who gets to see me naked regularly and even he doesn’t get to skip out on the paperwork, why the hell would I suffer sex with you and doing your paperwork for you?” he asked in an entirely calm and almost ‘pleasant’ tone.

Tony’s head snapped back and he gave Clint an incredulous look. “Dude, you don’t even get the blowjob discount? Why the hell are you even dating him?” 

Clint shrugged. “I tried trading blowjobs for paperwork for a while, but his self-control is way better than me-“

“Okay,” Bruce interrupted, coming back with a glass. “Enough saying ‘blowjobs’ in front of the child that’s learning to repeat words, okay? I do not want to explain that one to Pepper,” he said as he took his seat. “Phil, you’re welcome to join us,” he said politely.

Coulson gave him a small smile. “Thank you for the offer, but if these four think their paperwork is bad, they should see what all I have to do.” He nodded. “Evening,” he said to them all before turning to walk out. Bruce smiled when he caught the way Coulson barely brushed his fingers along Clint’s shoulder as he passed and watched the smile Clint wore as he watched Coulson until he left.

“You can box some up to take to him later, Clint,” Bruce said and Clint gave him a bashful smile at being caught.

“This feels freakishly like a family dinner,” Steve mumbled as he scooped more food onto his plate than the rest of them combined could possibly eat (at least not when Bruce hadn’t transformed in nearly two months). 

Natasha snorted. “A dysfunctional family maybe.”

Clint shrugged. “I don’t know, non-traditional maybe, but coming from someone who has experience with dysfunctional families, there’s not enough shouting around here.”

Bruce nodded. “Yeah, I’d go with non-traditional with a side of bizarre as hell.”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t even know what a family dinner is supposed to be like in the real world,” he said. “Maybe this is normal for the twenty-first century? Stay at home dad doing science and looking after the baby while his super-hero boyfriend saves the world, and then making sure there’s a hot meal on the table for grandpa,” he looked at Steve then gestured to Clint and Natasha, “And the teenaged children- with a cameo from the son’s too-old boyfriend cause he’s going through a phase- when they all get home from a hard day’s work.”

Bruce chuckled. “To be fair, you and I are probably old enough to be their parents,” he said to Tony, who whined and slumped over his plate.

“I’m a billionaire, billionaires don’t age!”

Natasha shook her head. “May be old enough to be my father but Clint’s barely younger than you two.” 

Clint nodded. “Yeah, I look younger than I am.” He nodded at Natasha. “I’m nearly old enough to be her dad.”

Tony dropped his fork. “You’re _huh_?!”

Natasha took a bite of her food and wiped at her mouth. “Yeah, he’s fourteen years older than me. I’m twenty-six and he’s thirty-nine, going on forty soon. He can be adopted,” she said, playing along with a small smirk.

Steve made a face. “Wanna talk bizarre? Physically, I’m younger than her,” he said and Tony glowered. 

“I hate you more than ever. You tall, chiseled, perpetually young bastard,” he grumbled.

Bruce chuckled and reached out to ruffle his wet hair. “Just remember, if you were twenty-three, I would be… whatever the opposite of a sugar daddy is.”

Tony held up a hand. “Wait does that mean Coulson isn’t a cradle robber? Damn, I had so many jokes lined up for that that I haven’t ever had a chance to use.”

Natasha shrugged. “He’s forty-eight so he’s older than the rest of us and he can still kick all our asses.” She made a face. “I should know, I try every year to get the drop on him- kind of like an annual test of his reflexes- and even now with the permanent damage, he still had an empty gun on me before I could disarm him two weeks ago.”

Tony heaved a sigh and turned a playful glare on Bruce. “Don’t I know the feeling of being outdone at your own game.” 

Bruce smirked. “Should’ve let me run if you didn’t want someone smarter hanging around.”

“Even if he hadn’t wanted you for dirty things, he’d have been stupid to not hire you,” Clint pointed out. “Seriously, do you know how many people in the entire world- that SHIELD knows of- are smarter than Tony Stark?” 

Bruce shrugged. “I don’t know, some?” he asked. “I know my IQ is up there in the top 50 easily-“

“You’re number _four_ ,” Natasha interrupted. “You didn’t know that?” she asked and Bruce ducked his head shyly.

“Damn, I knew I was smart-“

“As a genius myself, I feel obligated to tell you that you’re scary-smart,” Tony argued. “I’ve told you a thousand times, being smarter than me is hard to do. Pretty much nobody is.”

Bruce chuckled. “Who’s the smartest on SHIELD’s radar?” he asked out of curiosity.

“Re-“

Tony interrupted. “If you say Reed Richards I’m going to puke,” he warned.

Natasha smirked. “It really burns you up that he’s the smartest man alive, doesn’t it?”

Bruce chuckled. “Bad blood?” he asked Tony, who growled.

“That rat bastard started college at fourteen instead of fifteen and it wasn’t even anywhere _good_ , you know?!” He sighed and shook his head. “No, not bad blood, I’ll be honest, jealousy.” 

“And who are the other two above me?” he asked Natasha.

Clint spoke up. “Victor Von Doom and Charles Xavier.”

Tony smiled. “See, those I can deal with! Doom went evil and Xavier is a mutant so I don’t feel like I should be jealous.”

“You aren’t jealous of Bruce?” Clint asked.

“No way!” Tony smiled at Bruce. “You aren’t a mutant- well, not brain-stuff like Xavier- and you didn’t grow up a rich kid, so you had to work for it, unlike the rest of us.” He shrugged at Clint. “I’m capable of recognizing when to bow to the better man. But Reed Richards being smarter will never be acceptable.”

Bruce eyed him for a minute and grinned. “Let me guess, he invented something you couldn’t.”

“YES! That damn teleportation device he refuses to talk about that I only know about cause I periodically hack his shit for the hell of it,” Tony hissed bitterly. “But it’s okay, it’s cool. I make fun things. He’s a nerd like you- only not in a hot way.”

Bruce’s eyes shined with mirth. “You’re lucky I know you well enough to know you like the hot-nerd thing. Otherwise I might be offended.” He hesitated. “Speaking of nerd things, I want to talk to you about something later, okay?” he asked softly so that only Tony heard him.

Tony perked up. “I love talking science with you, what is it?”

Bruce shook his head. “Later, long story okay?” Tony nodded, though Bruce could practically feel the curiosity in his gaze. “Nothing bad, I promise.”

Tony nodded. “Alright, just don’t let me forget.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce was in Tony’s lab when he came in after everybody had gone home. “Oh yeah, nerd things!” Tony said, coming over to sit on the couch next to Bruce. “What nerd things do we need to talk about?” he asked, laying his head against Bruce’s shoulder to look at the packet in his hands.

Bruce flipped it shut, showing him the cover. “Environmental conference in DC has invited me to speak about hydraulic fracturing. Full lecture.”

Tony hummed. “Groovy, you’re great at environmentalism. You and Pepper should go and be full on representatives for Stark Industries.”

Bruce nodded. “That’s the idea.” He hesitated. “But that presents a problem.” He leaned his head against the top of Tony’s, flipping back through his packet of information to the schedule. “The conference is four days. Pepper can come back in two days, but I’ll be expected to stay the whole time.”

Tony nodded, cheek rubbing against Bruce’s shirt. “And?”

“Amelia,” Bruce said simply, lifting his head to look at Tony. 

Tony lifted his head and turned to face Bruce. “Ah, I see,” he said only to hesitate. “Actually no, what’s the problem?”

Bruce chuckled. “Tony, what will I do about Amelia for four days? I’ve never left her for more than a few hours in the whole time she’s been here. And even then, it was with Pepper one elevator ride away. Anytime I do experiments that can’t be interrupted, I schedule them with Pepper so she can be free in case of emergencies and won’t be stuck in a meeting and not have anybody to call on if Amelia needs something.” Bruce nodded. “For one, Pepper will be with me for two days. The other two days are whole days. Pepper on call for a few hours is okay but she’s running a multi-billion dollar corporation, Tony. She isn’t a babysitter.”

Tony nodded. “And? I’ve got Amelia, that’s totally not a problem,” he said dismissively.

Bruce stared at him. “Tony.” He paused, eyebrow arching. “Tony, you’ve never watched Amelia-“

“I’ve fed her, I’ve held her, I’m basically over my germ-fear in her case,” Tony argued. “Hell, I’ve sang her to sleep and fell asleep with her on my chest. We’ve napped together, Bruce. I can watch her for a few days.”

Bruce fidgeted. “Tony, you’ve had me close by every time though-“

“Bruce, I can look after her for a few days,” Tony promised. He reached out and curled a hand around the back of Bruce’s neck. “Bruce, you know I would never let anything happen to Amelia. She’s kind of my favorite person, buddy.”

Bruce smiled sadly. “Tony I know, but she’s a baby. She’s a handful. You had your own babysitter until a few years ago and now you want to babysit a child?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Trust me, I can handle a baby for four days. I’ve put up with so much more in my life, Bruce.” 

Bruce shot him a look. “If you break a robot, you can fix it. If you break my kid, nobody will be able to fix _you_ after I freak out and the Other Guy decides to rampage the tower,” he pointed out.

Tony gave him an offended look. “I’m not going to break a kid.” He shrugged. “She’s past the barfing thing, she isn’t teething anymore so she won’t scream for no reason, she’s able to stand but not walk or crawl very fast so I don’t have to worry about her running away from me, and she can say a few words but nothing that will accidentally set off a sensor somewhere.” Tony nudged him. “Seriously. I can handle her for a few days.”

Bruce leaned his head back. “As much as I love you and would trust you with my life, this is my _child_ we’re talking about. I’m actually considering leaving my one and only child in the care of someone who really needs a keeper himself most days,” he stressed. “My baby girl. The actual most important thing in the entirety of every universe that ever has, does, or will exist.” He looked at Tony. “Seriously, even if I didn’t turn into a Hulk when I’m stressed, I’d probably go nuts and murder you violently with my bare hands before remembering I love you, that’s how big a deal this is, Tony-“

“Bruce, do you _really_ think I’d risk endangering a baby even if she wasn’t yours?” He rolled his eyes. “It’s up to you, but I’m just saying, people leave their kids with babysitters and shit all the time, or at daycare, you can leave yours with a super-rich and powerful genius with a built in JARVIS baby monitor in every millimeter of the tower.” He stood up and stretched. “It’s up to you,” he said, bumping Bruce’s foot with his as he turned to head towards his main computer to get started working. Bruce was left to sit and think for a while.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony had just flopped onto the couch with his coffee and his tablet when Bruce came in with Pepper on his heels. “Morning,” Tony nodded to Pepper, who glowered as she followed Bruce as he walked around, clearly looking for something. He even lifted up the pillows on the couch looking for whatever it was, balancing Amelia on his hip.

“Tony, just promise him you’re not actually hiding booze somewhere in the room,” she pleaded.

Tony chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Bruce, I swore on pain of death-by-Hulk that I won’t so much as breathe deeply near the bar.” He held out his hands. “Gimme the baby so you don’t miss your plane.”

Bruce made a show of holding Amelia and whispering things to her before kneeling down to hand her to Tony. “Okay, Daddy has to go now, but I’ll be home soon, okay?” He leaned out and kissed her hair. “Be good for Tony, okay?”

“Tony!” she cried loudly, pointing at Tony’s face. “Tony.”

Bruce nodded, smiling brightly. “Yep, Tony’s going to watch you for a while but Daddy will be home soon.” He stood up and Amelia watched him walk around the back of the couch..

“Dadadadada!” she babbled pointing at him.

Tony grinned, looking at the baby sitting on his belly. “Yep, your daddy’s going for a few days but it’s cool. We can totally have fun!” He tilted his head back against the arm of the couch to look up at Bruce. “Seriously,” he said softly, smiling at the worried look and the way Bruce was wringing his hands. “Promise, we’re fine.”

Bruce sighed but leaned over the back of the couch to kiss Tony softly, lingering for a moment. “Okay, I trust you.”

Tony craned his neck and pecked Bruce’s lips one more time. “You should,” he said with a smile.

Bruce rolled his eyes and stood up. “Okay, you guys be safe, okay? Seriously, call me if there’s-“

“Okay, we’re running late,” Pepper interrupted, coming over to grab Bruce’s elbow. “Come on, let’s move!”

Bruce smiled and waved at Tony and Amelia. “Bye, love you, be good!” he called on his way to the elevator.

“Safe trip,” Tony called, smiling until the door shut before he sat up and lifted Amelia into his alp. “Alright, Kid, we’re gonna show your daddy that I’m a great babysitter, okay?” Amelia just stared. “Right, if you’re gonna be a genius baby, we’re gonna have to work on the talking,” he teased.

“Talk!” Amelia offered and Tony grinned.

“Good job, Kid!” He held out his hand and then grabbed her little hand to high-five it. “Alright, first off, JARVIS, did Bruce feed Amelia?” he asked.

“No, sir, Doctor Banner was most distracted this morning.”

Tony grinned. “Sweet, Cheerios sound good?” he asked, standing up with Amelia on his hip.

“Yay!” she cried, though he was pretty sure she had no idea what he was talking about.

Tony ruffled her curls and nodded. “That’s my girl, blind enthusiasm all the way.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Stark-“ Tony looked up and raised an eyebrow at Natasha and Clint, who had stopped and were looking at him like he was crazy. 

“Yes?” he asked.

Natasha opened her mouth then seemed to think better. Clint, however, went ahead. “Dude, you have a baby in your lab.”

Tony looked at the playpen beside his desk and the baby sitting on his desk next to him. “Um, yeah, that’s generally what mini-adults are called… and?”

Natasha shot him a look. “Why do you have Banner’s kid in your lab? Or any kid.”

“But especially Bruce’s kid,” Clint added. “Cause he’ll kill you way faster than most dads.”

Tony smiled at Amelia, who was biting at a plastic block with the letter B on it. “I’m babysitting for a few days, Bruce totally approved.” He handed Amelia another block. “She’s being my lab partner. I’ve taught her something cool, watch this!” He turned to her and held up the B. “Amelia, B stands for…”

Amelia reached for the block. “Bow- wand!”

Clint and Natasha shared a look and Clint snickered. “Did she just say Boron?”

Tony shrugged. “Well she tried, that’s what counts!” He grinned. “She can say like fifteen words and three of them are elements, she is awesome.”

Natasha shook her head with a smile. “This isn’t shocking at all.”

“What all can she say?” Clint asked curiously.

Tony held up another block. “C is for Carbon and –“ He grabbed two blocks and held them up. “Fe is for Iron,” he said with a smug look. “Sure, it sounds like ‘cabo’ and ‘ine’ but it’s still pretty damn good for a baby that isn’t even a year old. Then, you know, the normal words like ‘Daddy’ and ‘Tony’ and ‘Pep’ for Pepper. Then some simple ‘yay’ and ‘no’ and ‘ew’.” He handed her the block in his hand. “She’s gonna be a genius too, I know it.” He shrugged. “Not shocking though, her father is a certified super genius and her mom wasn’t exactly less than intelligent.”

Amelia held up a block. “Tony!” she cried and he took the block, raising an eyebrow at it.

“Take that back, pretty sure she’s a certifiable genius too,” he said, turning the block around to show them the T on the front. “I wasn’t spelling until nearly two and I was a prodigy,” Tony pointed out. “She totally recognizes that Tony starts with T!”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Or the T-block just happened to be in her hand and she wanted your attention.”

Tony made a face. “Bruce Banner’s child? I’ll go with genius baby!” He sat back. “So, apart from ‘oh God Tony’s watching a baby’ what did you need?”

Clint leaned over and played with Amelia’s hand, smiling at her. “Not anything vital, but boss man wants to talk to you about someone hacking into the SHIELD computers. Figured it was you.”

Tony smirked. “Totally me. I do it when I get bored.” He looked over at Amelia. “Tell Clint that Tony’s awesome like that.”

“Tony!” she cried brightly, holding out her hands. “Tony, Tony, Tony!”

Natasha whistled. “When Bruce gets back and finds out you’ve corrupted his kid in only a few hours, you’re _dead_.”

Tony shrugged. “Bruce loves me best, I doubt he’ll care. He’ll enjoy that I’ve taught her to love me like her daddy does.” He eyed her. “Just don’t start walking or something while Bruce is gone. He’d be super sad, okay?”

“Tony yay!” she cried and Clint snickered.

“I guess that’s as close as you’re gonna get.”

Tony smiled and pushed her hair out of her eyes. “That’s close enough, Kid.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony was almost asleep with Amelia tucked into his side whilst chewing on the book Tony had been reading her when JARVIS woke him up. “Sir, Doctor Banner is calling. Shall I put him on the television?”

Tony perked up and yawned. “Yeah, JARVIS, give him to me.” He pulled the book away from Amelia and grinned. “Amelia, come on, let’s see Daddy!” He picked her up and put her on the floor, sliding down onto the floor with her to sit in front of the television, settling just as the screen flashed on and Bruce popped up. “Hey buddy!” Tony said, only to be interrupted by Amelia squealing.

“DADDY!” she cried, smiling really wide.

Bruce smiled at the camera. “Hey guys,” he said, deflating some. “Man, it’s so good to see that she’s safe. I didn’t know you would be near a screen,” he said and Tony rolled his eyes.

“Bruce, seriously. I’m not going to damage the mini-you.” He smiled at Amelia. “We’ve had fun, huh?” he asked her, though she was too busy looking at the screen with wonder in her eyes. “Man, we’re totally freaked her out, she’s got no idea what’s going on,” he joked.

Bruce laughed. “Hey Amelia, are you good for Tony?” he asked.

Amelia clapped. “Yay Tony!”

“See?!” Tony leaned over and kissed her hair. “She loves me, Bruce. She totally thinks I’m cooler and I’m her favorite. Be jealous, I’ve won the heart of your offspring.” Tony smiled at the screen. “So, how goes the fracking conference?”

Bruce groaned, pulling off his glasses to rub his eyes. “I understand I’m extremely intelligent, but the stupidity in this city makes me want to cry.”

Tony cringed. “Ew, I know that feeling. DC isn’t exactly my favorite place in the world either.” He nudged Amelia. “Tell Daddy what C is for,” he suggested. He made a C with his fingers. “C is for what?”

“Tony, she’s not even a year old, pretty sure she doesn’t know letters-“

Amelia case his fingers and reached out. “Cabo!” she said, grabbing his hand. “Cabo, Daddy!” she said, pushing his hand at the TV screen.

Bruce looked surprised. “Holy shit, did you teach my daughter an _element_ and it’s atomic symbol?!” he asked, then grinned. “Oh my God, that’s awesome!”

Tony nodded, beaming. “Dude, she’s great, she’s already got two elements and she can recognize that T stands for Tony. Seriously, Banner, your child is definitely yours.” 

Bruce looked thoughtful but delighted as well. “I never expected this. God, I’m not even _home_ -“

“Don’t feel bad,” Tony soothed. “She and I didn’t get much hanging out time before today and you had no reason to think ‘huh, wonder if she can learn letters’ since she’s way younger than she should be. Hell, I mentioned today that I was nearly two before I could tell my letters, she’s not even one yet, and I was a prodigy.”

Bruce ducked his head. “I didn’t even think she might be like me. I figured she was a normal kid-“

“She is a normal kid,” Tony argued, smiling down at her. “Just a smart one.”

Bruce smiled sadly. “Well, I would say ‘I hoped she would have a normal life’ but I guess that went out the window the minute she was conceived, seeing as her mother was in military research and now that she’s gone, her father is a modern day Jekyll and Hyde, and she’s growing up living in a tower full of superheroes.” 

Tony gave him a warm but encouraging look that he hoped translated across the airwaves. “Bruce, I know growing up a genius wasn’t easy for you, but unlike your bastard of a father, you can be proud of her and support her and encourage her rather than feel like she’s ‘wrong’ for being unnaturally intelligent.” He curled his arms around Amelia and kissed her hair. “And you can bet your ass, nobody’s ever shoving you in a boarding school, Amelia. You are never going to be treated like a burden.”

“I forget your parents weren’t the best either,” Bruce said, catching his attention.

Tony shrugged. “They weren’t terrible. They loved me, they just didn’t show it. They never hurt me on purpose, they just wanted me out of their hair. I know you won’t ever do that with Amelia.” He smiled at him. “You’re too much of a good person for that.”

Bruce ducked his head. “I’m suddenly reminded why I let you watch my daughter when you talk like a responsible grownup,” he teased. He yawned. “Look, I’m exhausted, but please keep my baby safe, okay? I trust you but God knows I’ll lost it if anything happens to her, Tony. And you don’t go do anything stupid either. You’re my best friend and I’d be stuck alone again if you got hurt.”

Tony smirked. “Why Bruce, you saying you love me?” he teased.

Bruce laughed and rolled his eyes. “Yes, Tony, you dumbass.” He blew a kiss at the screen. “Daddy loves you, Amelia.” He fought another yawn and laughed. “I’ll call you tomorrow when I’m not falling out, Tony.”

Tony smiled and nodded. “Have fun, Bruce,” he said before clicking off the call. 

“Daddy?” Amelia asked, frowning when Bruce went away.

Tony kissed her head. “Daddy had to go sleep. Which is what we need to do, Amelia. Sleepy time, right?” He stood up, shifting Amelia to his hip. “Come on, how about we get you a bottle and go to sleep, okay?”

Amelia made a face. “Ew.”

Tony laughed. “Sleeping is ‘ew’? Well genius baby or not, I guess you still are a baby.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony finished buttoning up Amelia’s jacket and put the little pink hat on her head. “I know it’s not _that_ cool, but you don’t need to get sick, okay?” He finished and held her up, smiling as he looked her over. She was wearing a cute little lime green and blue dress with pink tights, some white shoes, and the cutest pink hat. “You are adorable, okay? I really don’t know where this urge came from, but I suddenly want to dress you up in cute little girl clothes. Maybe I can have someone make a little Iron Princess dress in red and gold with a little pair of gloves that look like repulsors. I’ve turned into a stay-at-home-mom in two days,” he admitted, sighing dramatically as he shifted her to his hip. “Okay, so, this could backfire easily but we’re gonna go for it.” 

When Tony and Amelia got downstairs, Tony got the car seat he’d had ordered out of the storage room in the garage and took his time buckling it and Amelia into the backseat of a rather nondescript (for Tony Stark) black Range Rover. “Alright,” Tony started as he got behind the wheel. “If your father finds out we went out he might kill me, but really, what good am I if I don’t let you get out and have some fresh air? I was cooped up in the house most of my childhood and I know it kinda sucks.”

“Out?” Amelia asked, looking around and Tony nodded.

“Yep, we, my little mini-genius, are going out!”

Their first stop was a baby store. Tony realized when they left that he didn’t have a stroller and the idea of carrying around a squirmy baby and a diaper bag at the same time was not high on his list of ‘things I want to try out’ for the day. “Okay,” he said as he got Amelia out of the car. “So, it’s like this, can you please be good?”

Amelia smiled up at him. “Yay!”

Tony just chuckled. “I’m starting to think ‘yay’ means ‘I’ll do what I want to’ with you.” He put her on his hip and pushed the keys in his pocket. “Okay, first order of business is stroller. Totally temporary, by the way. I can design something way better for you. Your dad will be so excited once I convince him it’s safe to take you out.” 

“Daddy ‘cited?” she asked and Tony grinned.

“Well, he will be, but let’s keep this a secret, just us okay?” He looked up as he walked through the door and immediately saw a woman in the store’s uniform stop and stare. “Hi, can you show me where the strollers are?” he asked.

She stared for a moment and then nodded. “T-that way,” she stuttered out, pointing to an aisle with ‘Strollers and Carriers’ on the sign above it.

“Thanks!” Tony headed that way, not missing how a few people whispered his name as he passed. “So much for sunglasses hiding my face, huh?” he asked Amelia, who was looking around with wide eyes. “What’s got you so quiet? The colors? I can paint more colors at home.”

“Pink!” Amelia said and Tony stopped, looking at her. He followed her eyes to the pink stroller box next to them and back to her face. Amelia grabbed at her pink tights and then pointed at the box. “Pink!”

Tony slowly whistled. “You are way smarter than I was, Kid.” He couldn’t fight a brief wave of pride. “I haven’t tried to teach you colors like I did the atomic symbols and elements, how do you recognize that?”

Amelia looked at him for a minute then tugged at her tights again. “Pink?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, your pants are pink, the box is pink, but I only mentioned in passing ‘let’s put on these pretty pink tights’. You remembered that?”

Amelia just clapped. “Yay, pink!”

Tony shook his head, turning to head on down the aisle. “You must be what your dad was like as a kid. It also proves that – while it can be genetic mutation or spontaneous – genius is definitely able to be inherited. Psychologists _wish_ they could get their hands on you and your dad.” He waved his free hand. “Not that they will, I’d never let anybody study you or your dad. You guys aren’t science experiments, you know?”

Amelia shook her head. “No no no.”

Tony nodded. “Yep, no taking you and Daddy.” 

“C-can I help you?” a nervous looking girl asked. She couldn’t be but about seventeen or eighteen and Tony couldn’t help notice the way she was sending ‘oh my god’ eyes to the boy helping a couple with their baby a few feet down the aisle.

Tony fixed a friendly smile on his face and nodded. “I sure hope so- “ he looked at her nametag. “Karen. You see, Karen, I left home without a stroller and this little princess and I have a lot to do today,” he said, fixing Amelia’s hat absently. “Do you happen to know which of these things is the safest for her and still easy to put in a car and take back out?”

“Y-yeah, um let me show you uh… this one probably.” She grabbed a box and then turned. “Um, maybe- maybe this one.” It continued for a while before Tony had finally worked out which one was the best by reading the boxes as she shuffled them around.

By the time they had checked out, Tony could already hear the false-shutter sound of people taking his photo now that he was on his way out of the store. He looked at Amelia and tilted his head. “Somehow I think I underestimated how many people like Iron Man, huh?”

Amelia just clapped. “F-E!” she said and Tony beamed.

“Yes, Fe is Iron! You brilliant mini-scientist, you! Daddy will be so impressed you learned that one when he’s home. He’ll kick himself for not trying to teach you before now.” Tony put the box in the back and buckled Amelia into her car seat. “So, we’ll drive to the park, I’ll put this bad boy together, and you and I will go walking, how’s that sound?”

“Yay!” Amelia cried, and Tony smiled fondly, ruffling her curls.

“How did I know that would be your answer?”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony was definitely the only person in the restaurant with a baby as they ate lunch. He was probably the only person in the world who had ever had the restaurant scrounge up dry Cheerios to feed said baby as well, but money talked and Tony had plenty of that. 

If Amelia happened to throw some of the Cheerios at the waiter when he came to the table to check up on them, Tony just reminded himself that he should leave a super massive tip.

Tony was helping Amelia pile her Cheerios back together on her plate when his phone rang. He pulled it out and cringed when he saw it was Pepper calling. “Hi, Pepper, I can explain-“

“Why do I get the feeling that’s the usual greeting she gets from you, Tony?” a very non-Pepper and definitely male voice started.

“Bruce?” Tony frowned. “Why are you using Pepper’s phone?”

“Because Pepper had her phone on her and I didn’t when she started getting calls about Tony Stark flags flying up all over the internet. Apparently you’ve already made gossip blogs. Not to mention the faster social networks. Twitter went down, it would seem,” he said, accusation all in his voice. “Oh, hey here’s Pepper-“

Tony heard fumbling and then, “Anthony Stark what the hell did you do?!” Pepper demanded and Tony cringed.

“Ow, full name? That’s painful-“

“I haven’t had time to go see what all you’ve done, I’ve already set the PR team for Stark Industries to send out the usual ‘Mr. Stark Isn’t Our Problem’ messages without looking, and Bruce wanted to call in case you were in danger or something so I couldn’t use my phone to google-“

“Pepper! Pepper just breathe!” He snickered. “Seriously, just breathe and relax.”

Amelia perked up. “Pep?!”

“Yep, it’s Pepper,” Tony said, handing Amelia her sippy-cup of milk. 

“Who are you with? Is it Steve? Don’t tell me somebody attacked while I’m not in New York-“

“Pepper, it’s okay, no danger, no attacks!” Tony rolled his eyes. “You aren’t my mother, you know. I just went out today is all. The usual ‘O-M-G it’s Iron Man!’ thing,” he defended.

“Really?” Pepper asked, sounding absolutely disbelieving. “That stuff doesn’t usually happen if you go to lunch-“

“Give me the phone,” Bruce interrupted, sounding annoyed. Tony cringed when he heard Pepper and Bruce whispering before the phone changed hands. “Tony, why is there a photograph of my daughter in a stroller I’ve never seen before in _Central Park_?!” he demanded.

Tony sighed. “We went out-“

“You left the tower with my child - the most precious thing in this entire world – all on your own?!” Bruce hissed angrily. Clearly he was somewhere too public to raise his voice. “Tony Stark, if I didn’t have a speech to give in about ten minutes, I would be on my way to the jet right this instant-“

“Bruce, Bruce, calm down,” Tony sighed. “We went to a baby store to buy a stroller, we went walking in the park, she enjoyed the ducks, and now we’re having lunch. Nobody’s bothered me, I’ve only had to sign two autographs, nobody’s asked me who Amelia even is surprisingly, and after this we’re going to a toy store.”

After a pause Bruce sighed. “Why, Tony? Why did you take her outside? Why did you go _alone_?! You couldn’t at least take Clint with you? Steve would’ve been better, but someone-“

“She’s not in any danger,” Tony reassured. “Bruce, you know me. I wouldn’t let anything happen to her. She’s my little lab partner, I’d murder someone over her, Bruce. You know I would.”

“I know, Tony,” Bruce said in an apologetic voice. “But you’re one man and he’s a baby and anything could go wrong outside of the tower-“

“She’s a child and I’m not going to lock her away like I was,” Tony urged, voice tight. Bruce didn’t respond so Tony continued. “I grew up locked away and shoved over to the side. If I wasn’t being taught something new because I was a prodigy, I was ignored and set aside and I wasn’t allowed to leave the house. I didn’t get to go to the park, I didn’t get to feed ducks, I didn’t get to go to a toy store, and look at what a fuck up I ended up as?!”

“Tony, you are not a fuck up-“ Tony cut him off.

“I’ve sorted my shit out now but how many kids were snorting cocaine off of a grown woman’s naked stomach at fifteen years old when the average fifteen year old was reading comic books and learning to play a guitar or something? I know from experience what a childhood of a gilded cage does to a kid and I know she’s not my daughter, I don’t really get to make the decision to take her out, but I woke up this morning and thought it was great weather and decided it would be a perfect day to take her out and let her see more of the world than the inside of her gilded cage,” Tony finished, biting his lip as his hand shook slightly on the phone. Bruce didn’t speak for a while and Tony closed his eyes. “Look, I’m sorry I blew up at you, it’s-“

“No, Tony, it’s alright.” Tony’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Bruce chuckled. “I know what you mean. I mean, I don’t know personally, but I appreciate what you’re trying to do for Amelia. And you’re right. She’s spent the past four months in the tower. She hasn’t left that building in four months. Hell, she’s barely left our floors. I just can’t help be afraid something will happen to you guys. It’s scary enough when you go off to a call since I’ve stopped coming with you guys, I’m always scared you’ll get hurt and I won’t’ be there in any form to help you. This time it’s you and my daughter going out when I’m pretty far away, Tony.” Brue hesitated but continued. “I’m going to trust you with this, Tony. I’m going to trust you to take care of my baby and get both of you back to the tower in one piece. Pepper will be back tomorrow if you need anything and I’ll be home in two days. I’ll definitely talk to you before then, obviously, but I want you to know I’m trusting your judgment here. Please don’t make me regret it, okay?”

Tony smiled down at his plate. “Thank you, Bruce.” He looked up at Amelia, who was watching him and cringed. “Fair warning, Amelia might start saying ‘fuck up’ now. She’s totally listening to our conversation.”

Bruce groaned. “As long as she doesn’t say it in public, we’ll be okay. Can I talk to her?”

Tony grinned and held out the phone. “Amelia, it’s Daddy,” he said leaning over the corner of the table to hold it to Amelia’s ear. “Say ‘hello’.”

“Daddy?!” Amelia cried, then squealed, slapping at the plate in front of her, sending Cheerios flying. “DADDY!” She stopped for a minute, clearly listening, then slapped the table again. “Daddy home?” Tony could see her understanding what was being said and it was _amazing_. “Okay, bye bye Daddy!” she said, waving at the phone. 

Tony took it back and chuckled. “Awww, that was adorable.”

Bruce laughed. “It’s kind of awesome to talk to her, I’ve been so frustrated today. I feel a million times better.”

Tony grinned. “Yeah, she’s awesome. Okay, so, you have a speech to give and I’ve got to leave a giant tip because somebody got excited about her Daddy on the phone and slammed her hands on her plate.”

“Oh no, big tip, you say?”

“The biggest,” Tony said, then waved a hand at their waiter as he approached. “I’ll talk to you tonight, Big Guy.”

“Bye, Tony, look after my kid.”

“Always,” Tony said simply as he hung up. The waiter got to the tableside and Tony fought a smirk at the horrified look on his face when he saw all the cheerios spread around the table. “Check, please.”

“Yes sir,” the waiter said, walking off with a slump to his shoulders. Tony figured it wouldn’t be there when he saw the three-digit tip Tony left him when they were gone.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
After their day out, Tony avoided any calls that weren’t from Pepper or Bruce. When Bruce finally got home, Clint was on the floor playing with Amelia while Tony scrolled through his missed calls and cringed. He didn’t even hear Bruce getting off the elevator until Amelia yelled “DADDY!” and his head popped up.

Bruce dropped his suitcase and walked over, smiling brightly as he scooped Amelia up. “Hey there!” He pulled her into a hug and groaned, holding her tight. “That was so weird not seeing you, seriously.” He looked over her head and smiled at Tony. “See you didn’t break my kid,” he said and Tony shrugged.

“She’s kinda resilient. Think she bounced when I dropped her,” he joked and Bruce rolled his eyes.

Bruce came over and flopped on the couch next to Tony, slumping over so that their shoulders touched. Amelia sat on his lap when he let her go and clapped. “Daddy, Tony! Daddy!”

Tony grinned and laid his head over on Bruce’s shoulder. “Yep, Daddy’s home, isn’t he?” He ruffled her hair. “She’s missed her daddy.”

Bruce chuckled. “Yeah? Well her daddy missed her too.” His eyes said it all when she looked up at him and smiled really big. “What’re you doing?” he asked Amelia and she pointed at Clint. “You playing with Clint?”

“Play!” she said, then wiggled off his lap and onto the floor. She half-crawled, half-scooted over to Clint and her toys and sat down, picking up a toy, laughing when Clint ducked away from her swinging it.

Tony cringed. “Apparently she likes beating him up, I forgot to mention that.”

Bruce smirked. “Good job,” he mumbled so only Tony heard. He saw the toy she had hit Clint with and huffed out a laugh. “Oh you bastard,” he said and Tony chuckled against his shirt. “Shrek? Really?”

Tony looked up at Bruce. “Hey, she picked it. Not me.”

Bruce looked over at him and narrowed his eyes. “You’re a lying liar that lies.

“Prove it.”

Bruce grinned and grabbed Tony’s hand off Tony’s leg, sliding their fingers together. “It’s nice to be home,” he said and Tony squeezed his fingers.

“Nice to have you home,” he said, tilting his chin to peck Bruce’s lips before turning back to Amelia, laying his head on Bruce’s shoulder once more. “How as the conference?”

Bruce groaned dramatically and slumped more against Tony. “I wanted a gun and two bullets. That way Pepper could put me out of my misery and still have one left to save herself.”

Tony winced. “Gee, suicide jokes from the man who has attempted suicide before, that’s so comforting to said man’s boyfriend.”

Clint snickered. “Banner, you have a morbid ass sense of humor.”

“Your agent-friend makes murder jokes, I’m pretty sure I’m not the most morbid-humored person in this tower,” Bruce countered. “And sorry, Tony, I forget how sensitive you are-“

“It’s not sensitivity, it’s normal reaction to being reminded the most brilliant, gorgeous, amazing man you’ve ever know used to want to kill himself,” Tony argued, pouting at him. “Seriously, what do you think half my nightmares are about?”

Bruce chuckled. “Your hair falling out and your goatee turning gray, I know your greatest fears,” he teased.

Tony sighed dramatically. “You’re horrible when you’re tired and cranky. Seriously. Morbid is right.”

Clint shrugged. “He is right, though. Phil’s murder jokes are definitely more morbid. Although, they’re just as ‘based on a true story’ as Bruce’s, so maybe that’s worse? At least Bruce only attempted something morbid, Phil kills loads of people.”

Bruce smirked at Tony’s cringe. “Just think! He could’ve totally killed you and he hasn’t yet. I think we’re doing well in life at this point, don’t you?”

Tony just snorted. “We’re the most fucked up people in the world, dude.”

Bruce shared a small smile with Tony and nodded. “Agreed.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony was eating a bowl of Cheerios while feeding some to Amelia as they sat in front of the TV when Bruce came in. “So, Pepper called, says you’re going to die a horrible death because of the whole ‘everybody thinks I had Tony Stark’s baby’ thing,” Bruce said and Tony smirked.

“She wishes she had my baby-“

“Doubtful,” Clint said and they both jumped, looking up to see him lying in the rafters with a book in hand.

“Fucks sake, Barton!” Tony grumbled. “Could you stop being a creepy ninja?!”

“Fuck!” Amelia cried, giggling up at Clint over her head.

Bruce’s head snapped around and he glared at Tony. “Tony, I swear to-“

Tony flapped a hand. “Amelia, that’s a bad word, okay?” He shook his head. “Don’t repeat what I say, okay?” She looked confused. “Grown-up words.”

“No fuck?” Amelia asked and Tony winced.

“You shouldn’t say it, okay?” Amelia just nodded and Tony chuckled. “Like hell you won’t.”

“Your fault,” Bruce said, coming over to pick Amelia up. “Alright enough Tony Time for this morning. You need a bath and maybe some time where you aren’t learning to curse like a sailor,” he said, putting her on his hip. “He’ll start teach you dirty words in Italian soon, I just know it.”

Tony grinned. “My little princess should know how to tell people to kiss her a-s-s in every language I speak, Bruce. She needs to learn early not to take anybody’s shit!” Bruce just rolled his eyes at him and walked away. “Amelia is a strong, confident young lady who doesn’t take crap from anybody!” he called at Bruce as he disappeared around the corner.

Barton snickered. “Little princess, huh?” he asked and Tony shrugged.

“Why not? This tower already has the occasional prince, a couple drama queens, and the Empress of Buzz Kill – Pepper – as well as your Agent Friend, who is the Ambassador of Sass. Why can’t Amelia be a princess?” Tony asked. “Besides, you want her on your side, Barton. She has the potential to blow me and Bruce both out of the water intellectually.”

Barton dropped down and flopped on the couch next to Tony. “For real? Cause you’re a genius and Bruce is kind of insanely super genius. How likely is it that we’d have three geniuses in one building?”

Tony shook his head. “Genius is hereditary and environmental. I had it natural and environmentally and I ended up as me. But Bruce got it natural but was suppressed environmentally and still had the capacity to learn on his own in a way even I can’t.” He ate another bite of cereal. “But Amelia, she’s showing outrageous development even earlier than I did and I don’t know about Bruce’s records, but if she’s on his rate of development as a baby, with Bruce and me to teach her starting early, she’s got the potential to be leaps and bounds ahead of Bruce. His childhood was horrific and he got _punished_ for being extra smart. Imagine if he’d been nurtured and guided the way we can for Amelia?”

Clint raised an eyebrow. “Two masters degrees by fifteen?” he asked and Tony chuckled.

“Who knows, maybe?” Tony smiled. “I kind of think Bruce didn’t even imagine she could be like him, but she is and I can tell he’s proud.”

Clint narrowed his eyes. “You seem proud. You talk about you and Bruce raising her. But let’s be real, what are the chances you even stick around?” Tony glowered. “No, I’m serious, Stark. You’ve been better with a kid around than we expected, but we’re all waiting for the day you set your sights on something better and the whole ‘super hero boyfriends’ thing is over and then Bruce splits and takes Amelia with him.”

Tony just stared. “You all still fucking thing this is temporary?” he asked tersely.

Clint shrugged. “Why shouldn’t it be? You’re even more self-hating than I am, you’re notoriously unstable, and your best shot at something lasting was with Potts and it lasted what, a year? You and Banner have been together less than that, you didn’t even take much time off after Pepper left your ass, and he threw a kid into the mix four months in. The fact it’s lasted this long is astonishing.”

Tony stood up. “Pepper didn’t work because it was wrong from the start. She’s my best friend, but that’s all. She ‘left my ass’ because it wasn’t fair to suffer me being who I am when it wasn’t worth it.”

“And to you, Banner is worth it?” Clint asked. “Look, I’m not trying to fuck with you, Stark, this is genuine curiosity. You do your shit your way and it’s your stuff. But you’re a grown man – a rich grown man - who had two friends in the whole world, three if you count your chauffer. You’re self-obsessed, you’re cocky, you say what you think without thinking about what it’ll come off as, and you are the _last_ person anybody can see in a serious relationship with someone equally as damaged if not MORE damaged, especially if there’s a kid involved.” He shrugged. “We’re just worried about how things will go when Banner runs again now that he has a child.”

Tony shook his head, fuming. “Bruce isn’t going to run. Bruce isn’t going anywhere. Amelia isn’t going anywhere. I won’t fucking sit here and defend myself, but I’ll put it to you in words you may understand for well-trained trailer trash,” he spat and Clint flinched, fists clenching. Bruce is the first person I’ve met in my entire adult life that understands me and the things I like. Do you KNOW how significant that is to me?! We work because we can share things that nobody else ever could for me. We’re both damaged but we understand that about each other. We’ve both got demons like nobody else around us can imagine. Bruce Banner had my attention the day I walked onto the Helicarrier and there was this guy with a kicked-puppy look in his eyes but a level of sarcasm that challenged mine standing there speaking honest-to-God intelligent English for once. Ten minutes of speaking to him and trying to figure him out and I was hooked. It may be the inner addict in me, but I was unable to take my eyes off of him. Thirty minutes after I met him, I was already imagining a life of working with him and talking with him and laughing and joking and just being with him.”

“I didn’t even realize it was me falling in love because up until that point, the only measure of ‘love’ I had was Pepper’s loyalty because she was the only person in my entire life I could trust. I thought I loved her, and in a way I did and still do, but not the way she deserved and not the way I realized I love Bruce.” Tony shook his head, lips pressed into a tight line. “I’m not going to give him up and I’m not giving up Amelia. They aren’t going anywhere without me putting up one hell of a fight because I’ll be _damned_ if I lose them.” He swallowed hard. “Bruce is home for me. Amelia is home for me. This isn’t temporary, this is until I _die_ , Barton,” he spat fiercely before storming out.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony was down in the garage methodically dismantling the entire engine of his ’23 T-Bucket when Bruce finally found him. “I wondered where you went. JARVIS said you told him to tell people you left but I knew better,” Bruce said, walking around the central work table to hop up on the stool. He watched Tony work silently, completely ignoring Bruce. “Tony, are you alright?” he asked, voice soft. “You’re worrying me.”

Tony tossed a wrench back into the tool chest and hopped up, walking over to the table to pick up the dismantled cams next to Bruce. “No reason to,” he answered tersely.

When he turned to walk away, Bruce caught his arm. “Look me in the eye and lie to me,” Bruce said in a no-nonsense tone. He took the cams from Tony and put them back on the table, pulling Tony around to face him. “Tony?” he asked softly.

Tony sighed, shoulders slumping. “I’m sorry, I know you worry when I go all ‘head space’-“

“I just don’t see this often, so it scares me.” Bruce parted his knees and pulled Tony until he could hug him, ignoring the protests of ‘you’ll get dirty’. “This is far from a good shirt, a little grease won’t hurt a black tee shirt,” he said, looking into Tony’s eyes. “Talk. This morning you were fine and then suddenly you went all shut-in and had JARVIS lie to me. If something happened in such a short amount of time, I have to assume it was bad.”

Tony squared his shoulders and curled his hands around Bruce’s hips, looking at him openly. “There’s nothing bad because he’s just _wrong_ and I’m right and you know it,” he said simply. Bruce gave him a confused look and Tony grinned. “Long story, but the only part you need to worry about is this-“ Tony leaned in and kissed him suddenly, startling a moan out of Bruce when Tony kissed him hard, fast, and thorough, pulling back just as unexpectedly.

“Whoa, hello,” Bruce said, blinking as he followed Tony some when he pulled away. “Um, hi? Not unappreciated, but seriously didn’t see that one coming.”

Tony smirked and Bruce rolled his eyes. “Too easy,” Tony dismissed, stroking at Bruce’s hip with the thumb he’d wiggled under his shirt. “It’s nothing big, just… Legolas may have asked me point blank ‘when will Banner and mini-Banner be hitting the road?’ and I was so caught off-guard I blew up at him and then sulked,” he admitted sheepishly. “Sorry if I freaked anybody out going all mood-swing like that, but I couldn’t help it, I was seriously gob-smacked.”

Bruce frowned, resting his hands on Tony’s shoulders. “Wait, he asked what?”

Tony huffed. “Barton – and apparently everybody else behind our backs – are just waiting for me to get tired of you and move on to a new toy or something. I wouldn’t be surprised if SHIELD has scheming-schemes about ‘how to handle a Stark induced Hulk out’ when I ‘inevitably’ leave you, cheat on you, or otherwise break your heart.”

Bruce snorted, rolling his eyes. “To be spies, they aren’t that bright, huh?” Tony looked hopeful and Bruce thumped him on the arm. “Don’t be stupid, I know you aren’t going to do that to me.” He smirked, sliding his fingers through the hair at the nape of Tony’s neck to see him shiver. “Trust me, I may have had trouble believing my luck at first, but by this point, I’m pretty cocky about the whole ‘Tony Stark loves me’ thing. I secretly have an evil, maniacal laugh in my head whenever I see people speculate about you and whatever pretty girl you were last seen speaking to because for some reason, the ‘genius, playboy, billionaire philanthropist’ thinks I’m better than hot blonde swimsuit models.”

Tony smirked with a delighted hum. “You’re _devious_ , Banner,” he said, leaning in to kiss him sweetly. “And you’re right to be cocky, I’m hot shit, Honey, and I’m allllll yours.”

Bruce hummed into another kiss. “Yep. I always told myself ‘Bruce, one day being a massive nerd will pay off, you just wait’ and look what it got me! A gorgeous, filthy rich, ridiculously perfect man wrapped around my little finger.” He giggled when Tony gave an overly-dramatic dreamy sigh.

“See, even for the shallow billionaires, brains beat looks in the end.” He shrugged. “Not that you’re lacking in the looks department,” he said and Bruce threw his head back to laugh.

“Trust me, I’m well aware I’m far from a Playmate, I’m absolutely fine with you loving me for my brains, Tony.” He looked into Tony’s eyes and stroked his thumb along Tony’s neck behind his ear. “I can’t believe my luck sometimes, but I never doubt you.”

Tony nodded, a content smile on his lips. “I’m glad you trust me. You have more than enough reasons to look back on my past and doubt every word I say-“

“You’re not who you used to be, Tony,” Bruce argued. “You changed so much the last few years. I’ve seen footage of you from just a few years ago and it’s a totally different man. Hell, footage of you from not long before I met you is a totally different man. It isn’t the you I fell in love with.”

Tony cringed. “It’s still the me I have the capacity to be again someday. I doubt it, but it was in me once, so… you know.”

“Tony Stark from two years ago wouldn’t be an Avenger,” Bruce said, looking into his eyes. “Tony Stark from two years ago wouldn’t be dating a science experiment gone wrong.” Tony started to interrupt and Bruce shut him up with a shhhh. “The Tony Stark you were two years ago wouldn’t have spent four days not doing dangerous things, wouldn’t have spent four days not drinking anything, and definitely wouldn’t have spent four days hanging out with a baby basically alone.” Bruce smiled. “I know the you that you are now and I like that.”

Tony nodded. “You know I’m not going to get over you, right? You and Amelia are home to me now. I think of my favorite place and it’s with you guys.”

Bruce’s face erupted into one of the very rare, full on, unrestrained smiles that Tony was pretty sure only he ever saw. “I like karma,” he said simply and Tony laughed harder than he expected. “I wouldn’t trade the life I have now for the world. It’s scary and I’m terrified someone will hurt Amelia or hurt one of the team to try and get at me or you, but I’d be lying if I said I wished it was any different.”

Tony curled his arms around Bruce and laid his head on Bruce’s shoulder, relaxing into the embrace. Bruce held him tightly, turning to kiss Tony’s neck chastely. Tony thought of something and bit his lip. “So, you were off by a few days there.” Bruce hummed. “I haven’t had anything to drink in two weeks, not just the four days I was keeping Amelia alone.” Tony held his breath, waiting for Bruce’s reaction. It was immediate.

Bruce pulled back and looked at Tony in surprise. “Really?” Tony nodded. Bruce pulled him back into a hug. “That’s great,” he said, sliding his fingers through Tony’s hair. “Are you really going for it?”

Tony shrugged. “It’s been thirteen days and I’m holding so maybe? I’m not making any promises,” he said quickly. “But I realized it’s probably not the best idea to drink as much as I do around Amelia. The first was just because I had her alone, but you know how much I drink, the last thing I need is for you two to need me and I’m drunk off my ass.” He looked at Bruce hesitantly. “Also, I thought about how much you might not like me drinking around your kid now that she’s getting more aware after your past.”

Bruce flinched slightly and Tony was reminded how, even as an adult, Bruce’s childhood would always haunt him. “I was never really comfortable with your drinking, Tony, but I’m not afraid of you becoming that kind of drunk.” He shook his head. “No amount of alcohol would make you become the monster he was. I’m not comfortable because of my past, but I know without a doubt you would never hit Amelia. Never. Not for anything. You love her and I know that.”

Tony bit his lip. “You have so much faith in me.”

Bruce shrugged and smiled. “Because you earned it.”

Tony’s smile widened and then twisted into a devious grin. “So, hey, you’re kind of amazing, wanna go make out in the rumble seat?” he asked and Bruce glanced over, raising an eyebrow. “Promise we’ll both fit,” Tony said before Bruce could ask.

Bruce narrowed his eyes, though a smile played around the corners of his lips. “You’ve had a fantasy haven’t you?” he asked and Tony’s eyes darkened. Bruce smirked. “I’m totally down for making your hot rod fantasy a reality as long as you don’t make any ‘necking’ jokes in front of everybody else upstairs.”

Tony tugged Bruce to his feet with a grin. “Deal.”

Bruce laughed, holding onto Tony’s shoulders as he was half-dragged across the garage floor over to Tony’s engine-disassembled orange and black hot rod. He climbed into the miniscule rumble seat, grinning when Tony leapt in and immediately pushed him against the other side. “Damn, I underestimated your car-penis psychological link-“

“Less talking, more making out,” Tony interrupted, tugging him into a _sincerely hot_ kiss.

Bruce just moaned and nodded. “M’kay.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Pepper raised an eyebrow when Tony, Bruce, and Steve all came off the elevator together. Tony’s black smudged arms suggested he’d been in the garage, but Bruce’s hair was standing up all over the place and Steve looked entirely uncomfortable. Phil gave them all a stern look. “Stark, did you and Captain Rogers get in a fight?” he asked, handing Pepper his tea as he stood.

Steve made a face. “No, I have access to the private garage to draw Stark’s cars and I went down to sketch his ’27 convertible only to find these two necking in it,” he said, and Bruce groaned, glaring at Tony.

Tony held up his hands. “Hey, he said it, not me!” He smirked at Steve and winked, slapping his shoulder as he passed him. “What’s the matter, Cap, never had a tumble in the rumble seat before? You crazy kids did that back in your day, right?”

Bruce huffed, going to take the empty chair beside where Coulson had been sitting. “Really, Tony? That’s worse than ‘necking’.”

Steve actually chuckled. “Actually, to be fair, even if the ‘two men’ part wasn’t quite fitting, I did have a total moment of ‘something I recognize!’ even if I’d really like to never see that again. Remember the common areas rule?” he asked, glaring at Tony.

Coulson sat down beside Pepper again and shook his head. “I expect nothing else from Stark, but I’m surprised at you, Dr. Banner.”

Pepper snickered. “I’m not. Phil, come on, you know as well as I do Bruce is just as devious as Tony when he wants to be.”

Tony interrupted. “So, Steve had just finished sputtering and turning purple when you called for us, Agent. What’s so important I didn’t make it past a little groping in my classic car fantasy?” he asked straight out, making Bruce slap a hand over his face. “Did somebody steal your annoying parakeet of a boyfriend? Please say yes!”

Bruce gave him a stern look. “Tony that’s not nice,” he said, then shot Coulson a look. “Really though, you need to put a filter on his mouth if you don’t want me to fix his mouth shut for good. You’re still his boss, you should shut him up before I do because unlike the rest of the team, I’m not afraid of Natasha, she likes me, she’d probably help me beat the shit out of him.”

“Bruce!” Pepper cried in shock.

Tony just stared at him in shock with heavy dose of ‘extremely turned on’ in his eyes. Bruce shrugged at Pepper. “Sorry but I don’t have to go green when I’m pissed off anymore and I don’t have to resort to brute force when I know how to out-logic even the ninja-agent. I won’t repeat his words, but let’s just say the ‘mild mannered geek’ in me gave way to the protective streak.”

Tony sighed dramatically. “Okay, that’s it, let’s get married,” he suggested and Bruce rolled his eyes at him.

Phil smiled tightly. “Don’t worry, I’ll stick him with a few trainee agents for a few days. He’ll leave you alone after that.

“Do we have something important to talk about, Sir?” Steve asked and Phil nodded.

“Actually we do. Nothing Avengers-related really, but as we all know by now, Mr. Stark’s outing with Ms. Banner caused a stir,” he said and Tony shrugged it off. “No, what you don’t want to shrug off is that even if she was only a few months old the last time she was seen, her face must have been recognizable enough that we’ve had flags go up. Someone’s trying to hack into the birth and death records and we can all imagine who would be interested.”

Bruce paled. “No,” he breathed. His eyes were wide as he looked around. “Just… how could he recognize her face? She would’ve been a newborn.”

Phil shook his head. “Could be that she looks like his daughter? He’d recognize her eyes.”

“No,” Bruce sighed, putting his face in his hands. “Because even with her mother’s eye color, she looks like me,” he admitted. “And he would know my face anywhere. There’s a reason I hid in impoverished and crowded places. Anybody looking for me would’ve seen my face on the first security camera I passed. And Ross will never stop looking for me.” He shook his head. “I just thought after it’s pretty much proven that the Other Guy isn’t rampaging and is helping that I’d be safe from him since it’s public that he’s part of ‘the team’ or whatever.” He leaned back, hands going through his hair. “I’ve been going around in the open without any fear for months now.”

“But I don’t understand,” Steve said. “How would anybody make the leap from Banner’s kid to the one Tony Stark was out with? Sure, we’re teammates, but it’s not like anybody knows you two are a couple and apart from you going in public, the Hulk is the only tie to the team, publicly.” 

Pepper interrupted. “Bruce was representing Stark Industries at the same time Tony had Amelia out and about. Clear connection between Stark Industries and Tony Stark, at least.”

Tony walked over and put a hand on Bruce’s back. “Then he’s safe,” he said simply, stroking at Bruce’s neck. “I’m not being my usual cocky self when I say this, but I’m Tony-fucking-Stark. Ross can look into it all he wants but he can’t come after a private citizen that’s living with a well-known public figure without getting his ass handed to him by multiple government agencies.”

Bruce leaned back against his hand. “Tony, technically I’m _not_ a private citizen. Well, I am, but my Other Side is legally property of the US Army.”

Tony shrugged. “You aren’t half a person. You are the Hulk, therefore you are always a private citizen. Also, did I mention ‘prominent public figure’? You’re the boyfriend of someone who is basically famous. The shit-storm Ross would create trying to get to you or Amelia would be astronomical.”

Phil nodded. “He’s right, Dr. Banner. However, you know better than I do that Ross is unhinged. He could come after you – or Ms. Banner – without regard to himself if he’s that determined.”

Bruce cursed. “Shit, what do I do?”

“For the time being,” Phil said honestly. “You are safer here than anywhere in the world. You’re living with superheroes and your partner is, as he said, a public figure. Nobody will be able to touch you or your daughter without intervention.” He nodded at Tony. “The best thing you can do is be seen with Stark, go out, live your life.”

Bruce slumped. “I guess you’re right,” he said, but Tony noticed his hands twisting together in his lap. Bruce had nearly stopped wringing his hands altogether in the past few months. 

Tony tapped his neck. “You okay?” he asked softly and Bruce stood up suddenly. “Bruce?”

“I’m just gonna go check on Amelia,” he mumbled, shrugging off Tony’s hand as he left in a hurry.

Tony sat down in the chair he’d vacated and crossed his legs. “Right, so my question is, can I kill Ross or will I go to jail?” he asked Phil, who actually looked amused.

“Technically speaking, that’s still murder, so yes, you would probably go to jail.” Phil looked at his watch. “I’ve got to go but rest assured, Dr. Banner is safe. I can almost guarantee that you’ll have no attacks or attempts at kidnapping as long as it’s kept public that you are involved with them.”

Tony stood up. “Good, then they’re safe. Like I told Bitchy Barton, I’m not going to let Bruce or Amelia out of my life without a fight, so they’re _safe_ ,” he stressed, turning on his heel to head to his lab.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce woke up thirsty and immediately tried to slide out of bed without waking Tony, only to realize as soon as he sat up that Tony wasn’t there. He reached over and found Tony’s side of the bed cool. “JARVIS, where’s Tony?” he asked as he stood and walked to the bathroom, sticking a glass under the tap to drink some water.

“Mr. Stark fell asleep in the nursery, sir.”

Bruce yawned and ruffled his hair, shuffling out of the bedroom. “Nursery huh? I didn’t hear you say she woke up,” he said as he walked out into the hall. It wasn’t terribly far down the hall to the nursery. When he got there, the only light was the low-level lights around the floor that Tony had installed so that nobody tripped going to check on Amelia at night. He looked around and paused when he saw Tony asleep in the rocking chair, holding Amelia. The sight of Tony and Amelia asleep together caused a fluttering in Bruce’s stomach that he seemed to feel a lot more recently. “Awww,” Bruce whispered as he walked closer. He leaned down and put a hand on Amelia’s back. “C’mere, don’t want Tony to drop you,” he breathed, lifting her carefully, afraid of waking her.

However, as soon as her weight left Tony’s chest, Tony jerked awake, hands flying up to grab at her. “Amelia-“

“Shhhhhh,” Bruce soothed, carefully laying her back on Tony’s chest. “It’s okay, she’s not falling, I’ve got her,” he whispered and Tony blinked at him then at Amelia and groaned, letting Bruce take her. Bruce lifted her sleeping form and held her in his arms for a moment, smiling down at her sleeping face before walking over to the crib so he could put her down. Bruce covered her up with her blanket and just leaned on the rail for a minute, looking down at his sleeping daughter.

Bruce relaxed with a sigh when warm hands slid around his waist and Tony laid his chin on Bruce’s shoulder. “Shouldn’t you be asleep, Dr. Banner?” Tony mumbled as Bruce leaned back into his chest.

“Thirsty,” he said simply, leaning his temple against Tony’s cheek. “You could’ve woke me when she woke up,” he said and Tony shrugged, sliding his hands under Bruce’s shirt.

“I wasn’t sleeping well anyhow,” he said and Bruce chuckled, shivering when Tony’s nails slid across his belly.

“You seemed good and asleep when I came in,” he said, sliding his hands down to rest on Tony’s wrists. He turned to look at his face. “I kind of love it when you and Amelia are asleep together. Cutest thing ever.”

Tony smiled then looked back down at her. “I guess this shit earlier freaked me out some and I wanted to be around her to be sure she’s okay.” He looked back up at Bruce with a playful twinkle in his eyes. “If you haven’t worked it out by now, I totally love your kid, she’s as cool as you are.”

Bruce nodded, leaning in to peck Tony’s lips. “I may have worked it out somewhere between ‘my little princess’ and the fact you had her written into your Will,” he said, smiling at him. “And, you know, how angry you get when people accuse you of being on the brink dumping me because of her.”

Tony made a face. “You were not meant to know about the Will thing. I thought it was a little creepy but necessary so I was gonna just do it and not make it a thing and you’d just find out if I died cause Amelia would suddenly get tons of money in a trust fund-“

“I am a genius too, I have my own set-ups for when my daughter’s name pops up in legal circles,” Bruce interrupted. “And really, she has a bigger cut than _Pepper_?” he asked and Tony shrugged.

“Pepper’s a loyal friend, but she’s an adult who is also a high-paid CEO of a multi-billion dollar international corporation, whereas Amelia is a child who has the potential to rack up a shit load of education bills,” he said simply. “I nearly die all the time, I want to be sure you guys are taken care of. If you had looked closer, you would see a sizeable cut goes to you in the event of my death,” he pointed out.

Bruce narrowed his eyes. “Why am I in your Will?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You’re my boyfriend, I love you, if I die you’re not as safe as you are when I’m alive. Therefore, to make sure you are never short of cash if you have to run again, you’ve got a cut.” 

Bruce smirked. “So if I kill you, I’m rich?”

Tony thumped him. “You wouldn’t kill me, you like sex too much,” he said and Bruce laughed out loud before covering his mouth, freezing as they waited to see if Amelia woke up.

“Okay, stud, pretty sure you need sleep,” Bruce whispered, pulling Tony towards the door. “You’re getting loopy.”

Tony just smirked. “I’m not wrong though, you’re one horny bastard-“ Bruce shut him up by stopping him in the hall and kissing him. “Mmmm, see, my point is proven-“

“You’re an asshole,” Bruce laughed, shaking his head. “ _Sleep_. Now,” he said, pointing at the bedroom door.

Tony sighed dramatically. “Spoilsport,” he said, sneaking a grope before skipping out of Bruce’s grasp, grinning all the way to the bed.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce took off his glasses, grinning over the table at Tony. “This is incredible,” he said, looking at Amelia, who was sitting on the table holding Tony’s hands. “You are so smart, Amelia, it’s crazy,” he said, and Tony beamed at him. “She’s just… _wow_ ,” Bruce said, looking at the readout on the screen again. “The activity in her lateral prefrontal cortex is just off the charts,” he said, spinning the screen to show Tony. “The one on the left is her activity, the one on the right is average activity for a one year old child,” he said, pointing to the highlighted areas. “It’s incredible.”

Tony smiled down at Amelia. “And the frontal lobe is genetic so it makes sense a genius and a highly intelligent person would result in a genetically predisposed brain-child,” he said, watching as she looked at him, clearly listening. “It’s like she understands, Bruce. Hell, maybe she does,” he said, shaking his head. 

Bruce laughed delightedly. “Maybe she does. I mean, she spoke early and she’s speaking more and more clearly every day. But she still isn’t walking, most of the time children with higher intelligence reach multiple milestones early. She’s actually a little delayed on the walking,” he said and Tony shrugged.

“I didn’t speak until I was nearly two, so it isn’t always that way,” he pointed out. “When I did start speaking, it was in full intelligent sentences. Our luck, she’ll skip toddling and start running.” He looked at Amelia and narrowed his eyes. “I have an idea,” he said, picking Amelia up.

Bruce followed him and Tony took Amelia over to the coffee table in front of the couch and sat her on the floor so she could stand at the table. “Wait right here, Princess,” he said and Bruce sat down beside her on the floor, watching Tony jog through the lab, only to come back with a tool tray. It held forty wrenches of varying sizes and shapes. He dumped them out on the metal surface of the table then put the empty tray on the table and slid the wrenches into a pile next to it. “Amelia,” he said, sitting on the couch to look at her face. “Can you put these back?” he asked, picking up one wrench to show her. “See it? This one goes here,” he said, putting it in its place. He took it out and put it on the pile again. “Can you do that?” he asked her.

“Put?” she asked, picking up a bigger wrench, holding it up. “Put?”

Tony nodded, pointing at the tray. “Put it where it goes,” he instructed and she looked at the tray for a little while before reaching out and putting the wrench in its place.

Bruce and Tony shared a smile and Bruce knelt so he could see around her. “Put them all in their spots, Amelia,” he instructed and she clapped then reached out and grabbed another wrench.

“Put here!” she said, sliding it into the right place with only a few seconds of looking. Within three minutes, she had put every single wrench back into its space. “All done!” she said, grinning up at Tony who just threw his arms up, a big smile on his face.

“Holy crap,” Bruce said, then hugged Amelia. “You’re amazing!” He looked at Amelia with so much pride in his eyes it was overwhelming. “You’re going to be one year old in three weeks and you’re already blowing my mind.”

Amelia clapped and looked at Tony, holding out her arms. “Tony hug!” she said and Tony slid off the couch and pulled her into a big hug, lifting her off the floor to hold her.

“You’re the coolest thing ever,” he said, smiling over at Bruce. “You’re replaced, she’s way cooler,” he said and Bruce slid to lean against the couch next to Tony.

Bruce slumped against his shoulder and grinned. “Our daughter is brilliant, how awesome is that?” he asked and Tony looked up at him with wide eyes. “What?” Bruce asked with a frown.

Tony looked at Amelia, who was watching him and Bruce talk, then looked at Bruce. “You called her _our_ daughter,” he said and Bruce stilled.

“Um, I didn’t mean-“

“It’s okay if you did,” Tony said, looking down at Amelia, not at Bruce. “It’s more than okay if you want it to be how it sounded. I loved her before we knew she was super awesomely smart, I loved her when she was just a weird smelling mini-human. I probably even loved her those times she barfed on me.”

Bruce nodded. “I know you did,” he said softly. He bumped their shoulders together. “Let’s be honest, she is our daughter, Tony. Doesn’t take blood to be family, we both know this.” 

Tony gave Bruce a warm look and bit his lip. “If I didn’t have an armful of kid, I’d tackle you right now,” he said and Bruce laughed. He looked at Amelia and tugged on a curl playfully. “I love you, Princess,” he said and she clapped.

“Yay!” she said, then surprised them both by laying her head on Tony’s chest, hands in his shirt. “Love Tony,” she said and Bruce could see the way Tony froze and his eyes misted over.

Bruce curled his fingers around Tony’s wrist and stroked the back of his hand with his thumb. “Just breathe,” he whispered and Tony let out a shaky breath, blinking. “See? Told you.”

Tony closed his eyes and leaned against Bruce harder. “Yeah, you did.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The press outside of Tony’s latest charity ball for the New York City Police Department was brutal. Bruce had skived off to stay home with Amelia and Tony was glad he had, because Bruce still got twitchy around the more invasive reporters and they were especially brutal since it had been a while since Tony gave any public statements. Within twenty-minutes he’d been asked everything from his opinion on the president to what color underwear ‘that redhead chick’ wears. 

Surprisingly, he was nearly done handling the reporters before someone spoke up, a pretty girl with dark skin and even darker hair that looked vaguely familiar, about his outing with Amelia. “Mr. Stark! You were photographed out with a baby. Is she your daughter and if so, is the mother your ex, Virginia Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries?” she asked and several recorders and microphones surrounded her suddenly.

Tony just fixed his usual smile and shook his head. “No, she wasn’t the product of my former relationship. There aren’t – to my knowledge, so almost definitely not – any mini-Stark’s in the world, actually.”

“Then who was the kid?” somebody yelled and Tony didn’t hesitate.

“My daughter is my partner’s daughter, she came into his custody after he and I started dating and she’s been in our life ever since,” he answered, then smirked when the flashbulbs went crazy and people all began asking the same question.

The same girl eagerly spoke over everyone else. “So you’re saying the world-renown lady’s man, Tony Stark, is not only bisexual, but in a settled relationship with another man?!”

“Well gender’s never played a role in anything to me, I mean sexy is sexy no matter what the attachments, you know?” he asked, winking at her. “But yes, if you must know, I’m in a permanent relationship with Dr. Bruce Banner, who has in recent months been representing Stark Industries at various environmental conferences. The man’s a beautiful genius, what can I say, I was gone the minute he started speaking intelligent English for once,” he said, shrugging, only to stop when Pepper came back from where she’d been up ahead and grabbed his wrist.

“Okay, enough gloating about your boyfriend, time to go,” she said and Tony waved to the cameras.

“Have a great evening, guys,” he said, hooking his arm through Pepper’s as they walked up the stairs into the building. “Bruce’ll get a kick out of that,” he said and Pepper shot him a look.

“I cannot believe you talked about Bruce and Amelia openly like that. Are you out of your mind?!” she asked and Tony shook his head.

“Bruce knows it was going to happen soon,” he said and Pepper glared. “No, really, Pepper. It’s like Agent said, as long as they’re openly linked to me – a powerful public figure – they’re safer than they would be on their own. I just officially staked ‘claim’ on them so they’re harder to touch now than they ever have been.”

Pepper sighed and rolled her eyes. “I hope you’re right, Tony.”

“When am I not?” he asked, guiding her towards the dance floor.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce cheered for Amelia again when she walked from the coffee table to the next person, who happened to be Steve. “Man, you couldn’t have waited for Tony to get home, could you?” he asked Amelia, who was high-fiving Steve with both hands.

She turned and looked at him. “Tony home?” she asked, eyes wide.

Bruce smiled and shook his head. “No, but Tony will be home soon.”

“Yay!” she cried, hands up in the air. She looked over to her right and then let go of the chair and toddled over to Clint’s space on the couch. “Hey!” she said, waving at him when she got there.

Clint chuckled and waved back. “You’re pretty cool, kid,” he said, watching as she held out her hand. “What? You want a high-five?” he asked and she held her hand closer. He high-fived her and she clapped again.

“Yay! Five!” She turned and pointed at Bruce. “Daddy five!” she said, then wobbled over to Bruce, only to fall over and land on her butt before she could high-five him. “Oh no,” she said, putting her hands on her head.

Bruce laughed and picked her up. “You’re the most adorable thing ever,” he said, hugging her close. “Tony was right, you took a few steps and then you were off, huh?” He kissed her cheek. “You’re the coolest thing ever Amelia Elizabeth Banner,” he whispered and she just smiled at him.

“You’ve got a sweet daughter, Bruce,” Steve said, smiling at the baby. “You should be proud of her.”

“Thanks, Steve,” Bruce said, then grinned. “I’m so proud of her, she’s without a doubt the best human being ever.”

Clint looked at her and waved when she looked back. “Yeah, she’s pretty much awesome. Reminds me of Boss Man’s niece. She was about like Amelia when I met her. Not sure how old she was, but the talking and stuff was just as adorable.” He looked at her and smiled sadly. “In another life, Phil would’ve had kids.” He shrugged and sat up. “But, in that same other life he would’ve been half the badass he is and there would’ve been somebody who isn’t me involved in that ‘kids’ thing, so I’m gonna be selfish and say I’m glad things are how they are.”

Bruce nodded. “Same here. I hate she lost her mom, but I would’ve never known Amelia if things had gone any other way. It’s horrible Betty died, but it’s amazing that I got Amelia in my life. Hell, if I hadn’t stayed with Tony, I’d have still never met Amelia. She’d have gone to an adoptive family. Or worse, to Ross,” he said, shuddering. “Instead, I chose to stay with Tony against every better judgment, and now we have a daughter.” They all heard the elevator doors open and Bruce grinned down at Amelia. “Speaking of Tony…”

“Hi guys,” Pepper said, walking ahead of Tony. “Night in while we did the hard work, huh?” she asked, flopping down onto the couch behind Bruce, sighing as she toed off her shoes.

“Tony!” Amelia cried, holding out her hands when Tony came into her line of sight.

Tony visibly relaxed and deflated some. “Hey Princess,” he said, only to stop in his tracks when Bruce let go and she wobbled the few steps between them and grabbed onto his knee. “Holy-“

“Five!” She interrupted, holding her little hand up. “Tony five!”

Tony laughed and high-fived her, squatting down. “You walked!” He looked up at Bruce, who nodded.

“Yep, she did like you suspected. Took a few steps and now she’s getting along pretty well.” 

Tony shrugged off his jacket and then slid to his knees, tossing his jacket at the arm of the couch. “You wanna show me that you can walk to Daddy?” 

“Daddy!” she cried, then turned and started towards Bruce, only to trip over the edge of the carpet and go down onto her front. Tony jerked for her but Bruce got to her first, just as she started crying. It wasn’t a hard fall, so she would be alright, but Bruce still picked her up, standing so he could bounce her.

“Shhhhh, shh, it’s okay. You’re okay,” he soothed and Tony stood, reaching out to pet her head.

“Hey, you tried your best,” Tony said, putting a hand on Bruce’s waist as he leaned in to kiss Amelia’s head. “You’re still the best,” he said and Bruce smiled at him as he rocked Amelia.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“You’re doing _what_ for Amelia’s birthday?!” Steve asked, looking at Tony like he’d sprouted antlers. “You – Tony Stark – are really-“ he was interrupted by Pepper, Phil, and Bruce all coming off the elevator. “Pepper, is he for real?” Steve asked, looking absolutely astounded.

Pepper cringed. “I dread to ask what you mean,” she said, coming over, offering a smile at Amelia in Tony’s lap as she sat across from Tony. “Tony, whatever you’re doing, just say no.”

“Unless it’s something good,” Bruce countered, sliding to the floor beside Tony’s legs so he was level with Amelia. “What’re you up to now?” he asked Tony.

Tony smiled brightly. “Well, the official word isn’t coming out until tomorrow, but this weekend, since it’s Amelia’s birthday, and since I’m due for another children’s charity thing, I’ve paid to have the Bronx Zoo closed for an entire day for about three hundred children from various children’s hospitals in the city to have a zoo day and it’s all in honor of Amelia’s birthday. Basically, as many kids as were healthy enough to go on a day trip, I’m paying for them to all go to the zoo. And Steve found out first cause what would be more awesome than for them all to get to meet Captain America?” 

Bruce smiled up at him with an almost sappy look on his face. “You’re kind of the best man I’ve ever met, Tony Stark,” he said, tilting his head back so that Tony could lean down and kiss him. “That’s basically the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of.”

“It’s seriously the coolest thing I’ve ever heard and very rarely does anything cool relate to Stark,” Steve said, still looking shocked. “What the hell happened to the asshole I’ve been working with the last year?!” 

Pepper smiled. “You have to remember, you provoke him, he enjoys making you angry, you only tend to see the inner twelve year old boy,” Pepper pointed out. “Tony does things like this a lot. Not as much since all of you guys happened, but Tony doesn’t just throw money around, he takes his philanthropy pretty seriously.”

Coulson cleared his throat. “Did it not occur to anyone that having Rogers in full Captain America gear while you’re out with Dr. Banner and Amelia will pretty much cement the currently debated theory of Dr. Banner being the Hulk’s alter-ego? So far, Bruce is publicly seen as just a scientist working for Stark Industries who happens to be dating Mr. Stark. There are always rumors and theories, but they aren’t widespread enough to even get any attention since most people haven’t even seen a photo of his face.” He nodded to Tony. “It will draw attention to him to be seen with Iron Man and Captain America. There will be theories he’s either Hawkeye or somehow turns into Hulk and one good shot of his face and a clear shot of Hulk and people will put two and two together.”

Tony hesitated. “I didn’t think of it like that, Bruce-“ 

Bruce interrupted Tony’s worried look and shook his head. “It’s okay,” he said and everyone paused. “No, really, this is a huge thing you’ve put together and it’ll look like I’m a terrible person for skipping my partner’s charity event that’s in honor of my daughter turning one. Hopefully I won’t get identified, but if I do, that’s just how things have to be.” He shook his head. “I’m not messing up something this huge and amazing on a ‘maybe’.”

Tony slid his fingers into Bruce’s hair gently. “But what if it isn’t a ‘maybe’? If it gets found out-“

“Then the only difference is some people will be afraid of me and calling for my head, not just his,” he said simply. He smiled and leaned into Tony’s touch. “Nobody knows my name outside of scientific research in the general public. Most of them don’t know that. I rarely leave the tower. Would I rather people not know who I am? Yes, of course. But it’s not going to change much because now people know I’m your partner so eventually it was going to get out anyhow.” He nodded at Phil. “He’s right, it’ll be quicker seeing me with two known super heroes than just as Tony Stark’s partner, but it was going to come out sooner or later after you came out to them by announcing you had me and Amelia in your life.” He shrugged. “Hell, Ross may even be slightly discouraged if the public knows Hulk is Tony Stark’s boyfriend most of the time.”

Coulson shrugged. “Your call. God knows I’d never own up to dating Tony Stark,” he said so flatly and without inflection that Tony envied his level of deadpan.

“For the record, you’re dating a _carnie_ ,” he stressed. 

Coulson nodded. “Yes, I am. And absolutely nobody outside of this tower knows about it so I don’t have to own up to him when he sneaks back into SHIELD and scares the hell out of people. I can claim not knowing him to most of the people he messes with, now Bruce won’t be able to repudiate claim to you.”

“Hey!” they heard from somewhere up above them, though nobody could see him. “I heard that!” Clint called and Coulson sighed.

“Barton, if you’re crawling in the ducts again I’m going to start setting traps,” he called to the room at large. There was no response, but Tony thought he heard a dull thud somewhere from inside the wall.

Bruce smirked. “I’ll claim mine, thanks,” he said, saluting Coulson as he turned and headed towards the elevator, already pulling out his phone.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce couldn’t believe how amazingly cooperative everybody involved with the zoo outing for Amelia’s birthday was. Steve had agreed to dress up in his full uniform for the kids and come along, but even Tony seemed surprised when Thor showed up, having remembered it was Amelia’s birthday, and immediately offered to wear his armor so that the kids could have not one but two ‘super heroes’ chaperoning their trip. Tony hadn’t wanted to bring out the Iron Man, but only because he wanted to stay with Amelia and wouldn’t be able to carry her or hold her hand – without being called out for child endangerment - if he had worn the suit. 

Much to Bruce’s surprise, Tony didn’t do his usual tailored suits and flashy accessories the way he usually did when there would be cameras around, instead he’d actually gone into a photo-rich environment wearing jeans and a Black Sabbath tee-shirt that he usually wore around the house so that he and Bruce looked just as sedate as the parents and hospital employees accompanying the rest of the groups of children. Amelia, however, was wearing a pretty blue frilly skirt over her black tights and a tee-shirt that said ‘Birthday Girl’. Bruce had rolled his eyes at the shirt at first, but he had to admit, it was really cute. She actually seemed to understand what it meant that it was her birthday, so he was excited for her. They were going to have dinner and presents back home that night, but Bruce knew she understood that the zoo trip was part of her birthday.

Tony was talking with a group of kids, instructing them on how to approach the bird exhibit they were beside without scaring the birds away from the viewing area when a pretty woman in scrubs came to a stop beside Bruce, who was watching Tony interacting with the children. “It’s crazy, huh? Who would expect a guy who is always in trouble for something he did or someone he got caught with to be such a kid-person?” she asked absently. She looked up at Bruce. “Sorry, thinking out loud,” she said, smiling. “I’m Karen, I’m with the kids from St. Jude’s,” she introduced, shaking Bruce’s hand. “Are you a parent?” she asked, looking at his lack of ID tag or uniform.

Bruce nodded, gesturing to the empty stroller he had, since Amelia was with Tony, standing beside where he was squatted down talking to the kids. “Yeah, I am,” he said, trying not to embarrass the woman by saying more.

“Well, as much of a mess as the gossip makes him out to be, it’s really great what Stark did today, isn’t it?” she asked, smiling. “A lot of these families won’t be able to afford trips to the zoo after so many medical expenses for their children, so it’s amazing that someone with so much money took the time to do something hands-on instead of just tossing some more into the hospitals. I mean, it’s great to have any donations at all, don’t get me wrong, but it says more about a person how involved they get.” She looked down at the stroller. “So, where’s yours?” she asked.

Bruce chuckled, biting his lip. “She’s over with the other kids,” he said, nodding at Tony’s gaggle of followers. 

“So she’s well enough to walk around on her own, that’s good,” she said, referring to the number of kids who were in wheelchairs. 

Bruce coughed. “Actually, she’s- I don’t want to give the impression-“

He was stopped from replying by Tony breaking from the group and coming over with Amelia on his hip. “Amelia want’s Daddy to come see the birdies, Bruce! Don’t just stand around all day,” he teased, coming to a stop to hand Amelia over to Bruce. Tony spotted the woman who looked absolutely mortified and smiled. “Hi, sorry if I’m interrupting, but you know how little girls can be about wanting their dad,” he said with an innocent shrug. 

Bruce bit back a laugh at the look the girl was giving Tony and cleared his throat. “This is my daughter, Amelia, and this is my partner, Tony,” Bruce introduced, though the woman looked like she wanted nothing more than to scurry. “Karen was just mentioning how nice it is to see someone doing something hands-on for children instead of just signing a check,” Bruce said and Tony gave his best crowd-pleaser of a smile.

“Well, it’s just how I am. In spite of some people’s doubts,” he glanced over at the direction that Steve and Thor had gone earlier, “I actually really like children.” He slid his arm around Bruce, smiling at Amelia. “I never thought I’d have one at home, but I got super lucky to fall for a guy with one already pre-made,” he joked, earning a forced, almost panicked laugh from the woman.

“Well it’s great what you’re doing today,” she said, then made a show of seeing someone. “Oh, sorry, I need to run,” she said, then literally took off at a jog for a group of passing children.

Tony smirked as soon as she was gone. “Self-righteous rich guy?” he asked and Bruce snickered.

“Troublemaking, gossip-fodder, man whore,” he answered and Tony shrugged, grinning.

“Eh, I do like to stir the shit, the gossip blogs love me, and a few years ago, number three was pretty accurate. I prefer ‘playboy’, personally,” he joked. “In your hippy-terms, it would be ‘free lover’.”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “Environmentalism doesn’t make me a hippy, Mr. Clean Energy,” he countered. “And seriously, Tony, do you think I was ever involved in ‘free love’? Really?”

Tony wiggled his eyebrows. “If not, clearly nobody had any taste in college, because you’re so gorgeous and attractive you ruined me for all others,” he murmured, leaning in to peck Bruce’s lips. “Their loss, my gain.”

Bruce’s smile softened and his eyes warmed. “Alright, alright, let’s just take the birthday girl to the zebra exhibit,” he said, falling into step with Tony as he carried Amelia and Tony pushed the empty stroller.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When they got home, Steve was still trying to explain Midgardian animals to Thor while Tony and Bruce lagged behind, Bruce carrying a sleeping Amelia. “I’m gonna go lay her down so she’s awake for dinner,” Bruce said and Tony nodded, heading over to where Steve was on ‘zebras aren’t small horses’. So far Thor seemed to be having trouble understanding some animals.

“These monkeys, why they have tails?” Thor asked. “They look like miniature humans of sorts, yet they have tails.”

Steve threw Tony a helpless look and Tony shrugged. “Don’t ask me, I’m no biologist. I assume they have tails to help them climb trees. Evolution is hard to explain and Steve missed basically all of the science of the last… lifetime.” He shrugged. “Just take it like it is.”

Thor seemed annoyed but nodded. “Yes, but why aren’t tigers kept as pets? They seem like glorious beasts! On Asgard, the ferocity of one’s pets and their abilities to protect your home is a most honored distinction!”

Steve cringed. “Thor, tigers would eat people. All of the people. Everywhere.”

Tony nodded. “They do eat people. Bruce told me about this village in Bangladesh he lived in for a while where three children were eaten by tigers in the span of a few months. Tigers aren’t afraid of the humans like most predators, they just eat them, too. Well, the little ones. The kids mostly,” he clarified. “I can totally see you with a pet wolf, though,” he said.

Thor sighed dramatically, his face falling. “One of my nephews is a wolf. Poor child,” he said, shaking his head.

Steve and Tony both adopted terribly confused expressions, only to be interrupted by a laugh from behind them. Bruce came over and hopped over the couch, landing beside Tony. “That’s not just part of the mythology?”

Thor frowned. “Mythology? Of course not, one of my nephews is a wolf, this is no myth.”

Bruce waved a hand. “You know how the ancient race of humans worshipped Asgardians? Their religious texts – their mythology – has a lot of the things about you and your people. Most of us assume it’s mainly made up. Obviously, you’re proof some of its truth, but it’s still mostly embellished.”

Tony suddenly adopted a disturbed expression. “Wait… the thing about the eight-legged horse, that’s totally made up, right?”

Thor looked confused. “You mean Sleipnir? No, why would this be false?”

Bruce and Tony shared horrified expressions and glanced at the confused look on Steve’s face. “Um, never mind,” Bruce said and Tony shuddered.

“Great, I’m going to have serious nightmares about being raped by horses now,” Tony said and Bruce caught the expression on Steve’s face when he looked up. When he collapsed into a laughing fit, laying half-across Tony’s lap, Tony and Thor just looked at him like he’d gone crazy.

“Sorry, sorry,” Bruce smiled and sat up, clearing his throat. ‘Steve, your FACE!”

Steve shook his head as he stood. “Some things I just can’t unlearn,” he lamented, turning to leave. “I’m going to go try and kill myself now. Not sure how well it’ll work, but it’s worth a shot.”

Bruce wiped at his eyes, biting his lip to keep from falling into another giggle fit, only to see how confused Thor looked and fall over against Tony as he laughed, curling almost into a ball as he held his stomach. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, oh God,” he sighed, pressing his face into Tony’s side. “Tony, if you had seen his face!”

“Who are you and what have you done with my quietly sarcastic Bruce?” Tony asked tenderly, stroking his hair back from his face.

Bruce groaned, slumping until his face was pressed into Tony’s shirt and his knees were against Tony’s lap. “I’m sorry, I get kinda giggly when I’m tired. You know this.”

“I still do not understand why it’s funny,” Thor said and Bruce grinned.

“Go ask Natasha if you can find her,” he said, smiling tiredly as Thor left. “How long until she kicks his ass?” Bruce asked, looking up at Tony.

“I give it two hours,” Tony answered, curling an arm around Bruce. “I’m totally drained too. Kids are energy bombs.” He slumped down, closing his eyes when Bruce curled into his chest. “Wanna nap while Amelia’s down?” he asked and Bruce hummed. “Let’s shift so we can lay down,” he said and Bruce sat up long enough for Tony to turn and lay the right way and then climbed over to lay nearly on top of Tony. 

“Have I ever mentioned that I love that you’re close to my size so we can fit like that? If you were Steve or Thor, we’d never fit on the couch together,” Bruce said, resting his hand just below the arc reactor and his head just along the curve of Tony’s neck.

Tony smiled. “Normally I’d be annoyed somebody pointed out I’m kinda short, but you get a pass cause I’m tired and you’re warm.”

“And I’m slightly smaller,” Bruce mumbled. “Definitely less muscles, slightly smaller in general frame.”

Tony nodded and kissed his temple. “You’ve got it when it counts,” he said and Bruce huffed out a laugh.

“Is that a dick joke or a Hulk joke?” he asked, sliding his fingers along the edge of the arc reactor through Tony’s shirt.

Tony hummed. “Not even sure, I’m so drowsy and comfortable. I’d grope you and check but your crotch is way down there by my thigh and I don’t want to reach so far.”

Bruce snorted. “I love you sometimes,” he mumbled and Tony sucked his teeth.

“Only sometimes?”

“Most sometimes,” he mumbled, voice trailing off as he finally fell asleep. Tony just smiled and kiss his head, closing his eyes to follow Bruce into dream land.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Neither Tony nor Bruce expected to wake up from their nap to the sound of the alarms sounding through the tower and a loud explosion. Tony and Bruce both jumped awake so fast they fell off the couch, stumbling to their feet in a panic.

“STARK!” They turned and saw Coulson coming off the elevator. “Suit, now!”

“What’s going on?!” Tony demanded. “JARVIS?!”

“It appears someone managed to manufacture seven P-3-0-9-5-Rs and the tower is under attack-“

Tony paled. “Oh God,” he breathed.

Bruce looked at Tony in confusion. “Tony?”

Tony just swallowed hard. “Get Amelia. Fast,” he said, running towards the stairs. “JARVIS, suit!” he shouted as he pushed through the door and ran. 

Bruce sprinted for the hall, passing Clint and Natasha as they ran the other way from him, still pulling on their gear. Steve fell into step beside him as he rounded the corner, coming from the other way. “What’s going on?” Steve asked and Bruce shook his head.

“I don’t know anything except the building’s under attack and I’ve got to get Amelia,” he called, grabbing the frame to spin into Amelia’s room. She was standing in her crib crying and screaming, looking at the window. “Amelia!” he cried, sliding to a stop. He grabbed her from the crib, only to pause, eyes wide as he saw… something. Something hovering outside the window.

“DADDY?!” Amelia cried, clinging to him with absolute terror on her face. 

Bruce saw the craft turn and he gasped out a ‘no’ before spinning around, running towards Steve. “RUN!” he cried and they both managed to get around the corner just in time, for seconds after Bruce cleared the door into the hall, a blast shook the floor and debris flew through the open doorway as the outer wall was blown in. “TONY!” Bruce cried, running down the hall with Amelia in his arms. “JARVIS I NEED TONY!”

“Rogers,” Coulson shouted when they got to the main area, where the others were gathered, gearing up. “Forget the uniform, just get Bruce and Amelia out of here!”

“No good.” They turned just as Tony came from the elevator already in his suit, with the helmet in his hands. “The building is surrounded, the only way to get them out is get to the jet and hope I can distract them long enough to get it out. Barton, your job,” he said, pointing at him.

Bruce turned to Tony, panicking. “Tony, somebody has to get her out of here, I can’t hold him much longer-“ Tony shocked them all by pulling Bruce into a hard kiss right there. 

“Stark is it really time-“

Tony shut Coulson up with a hand held his way. He looked into Bruce’s eyes with nothing but regret and fear. “Hold him, you have to. Whatever happens, I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry-“

“Tony? What-“

“I did it,” Tony interrupted. He leaned his forehead against Bruce’s. “They’re Hulkbusters. I invented them. Before I knew you, before any of this-“ He swallowed hard. “I was contracted by the army, I only gave them plans before we all found out what Ross was up to. They’re drones with the same weaponry as the tanks that- that nearly stopped Hulk and I made them stronger, I made them so much stronger. He won’t survive it. I knew Amelia’s room isn’t safe because they’re _stronger_ than he is.” He pulled back and shook his head, looking over at Barton. “Barton, get them to the jet, get them out of here. Bruce, if he has to, let him tranq you because Hulk will go after them and you won’t make it.”

Bruce had never been more afraid than he was to hear that. For all the times he hated his other side, for all the times he wanted to die to stop him too, the one time he wanted the Hulk to protect him – to protect his child – Hulk wasn’t good enough. “Shit,” Bruce whispered.

Tony leaned down and kissed Amelia’s head, pressing their foreheads together. “I love you, Princess,” he said, then looked up at Bruce. “Don’t forget how much I love you guys. Don’t forget,” he urged, pulling away. 

Bruce looked up. “Tony what are you saying?” Tony smiled sadly as he put on his helmet. Bruce shook his head. “Tony, what are you saying?!” 

“Goodbye, Bruce,” Tony said, voice mechanically filtered through the helmet before he lifted off. “Barton, I’ll go to the roof, you get them down to the hangar, I can’t promise but maybe thirty seconds distraction so you get everything you can from my jet at take-off and don’t slow down for anything.”

Thor stepped up and placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “I’ll help you, my friend,” he said gravely.

“What can we do?” Coulson asked Tony. “You’re the expert here.”

“You and Natasha make sure everyone who was still in the building gets to the garage. Pepper has keys to all the cars, just get out whoever you can. Hopefully Ross won’t give a damn about civilians. Get a line to SHIELD and warn them only their biggest guns will even cripple these things. They’re drones, so nobody is inside. If you can get to the Command Unit, you can stop them. I’ll try and keep them going as long as I can to give you the best chance.” He looked at Thor. “We go wait just in the stairwell, I can give you about three minutes to get out, then Thor and I are going.”

Bruce shook his head. “Tony, don’t you dare-“

“I have to protect Amelia,” Tony said tightly. “It’s her only chance and she needs you, so you’re going with her. Discussion over.” He nodded at Bruce, visor down so that Bruce didn’t see his face. “I hope you can forgive me.”

Bruce swallowed hard, shaking his head. “Tony, no,” he whispered. “There’s got to be another way.”

Coulson put a hand on his shoulder. “Dr. Banner, I’m sorry but we don’t have time, we have to get you out now.”

Bruce looked at Tony like he wanted to argue but instead he closed his eyes and nodded. There were so many things he wanted to say, so many things he never said to Tony, but in lieu of everything he didn’t have time to say, he found two words to encompass everything swimming around in his brain. “Thank you,” he whispered, looking at Tony one last time before he turned to Barton and they ran for the elevator.

“Tony? Tony come?” Amelia asked, looking over her shoulder and reaching out her hand. “TONY!” she screamed when the doors shut and he disappeared from their sight. “WANT TONY!” she cried, kicking and reaching at the doors. 

Bruce held her close, shushing her cries as his heart broke.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony faced Thor as they waited for the go signal from Coulson. “You realize that if these things can take down the Hulk…” he trailed off and Thor nodded, jaw set. 

“It was and always has been my destiny to go to my death in the midst of a glorious battle. Should these weapons best me, it was for the safety of the humans inside this tower, including lady Amelia,” Thor answered.

Tony chuckled. “Well fuck me, isn’t it poetic I die at the hands of my own inventions?” he asked just before they got the order. 

“Good luck Iron Man, Thor,” Coulson’s voice said through the radio. “Get out in three, two, one.”

Tony and Thor burst out onto the roof, Tony flying out over the assaulting drones just long enough to catch their attention before flying straight up, drawing their fire away from the tower as they followed. Thor took to the sky with a mighty flash of lightening drawing the rest of the drones up just as the quinjet shot out from the hanger in the middle of the building, flying east at full speed and low altitude. Thor landed on a skyscraper not far from the tower and began striking the various drones with lightening while Iron Man buzzed around in circles and loops, distracting their fire. 

However, rather than focus on killing Thor and Iron Man first, three of the drones immediately split off and followed the quinjet. “NO!” Tony cried over the radio. “HAWKEYE ALTITUDE!” he shouted, veering off course and heading after the drones in the trail of the jet, leaving the other four still buzzing the tower. “HAWKEYE!” 

“On our tail, Stark. Jesus they’re fast. How many?” Clint’s voice crackled over the radio.

“Three on you, Thor’s distracting the rest, I’m coming in hot,” Tony said, flying as fast as he could towards the three drones on the jet’s tail. “Tell me something Agent, we have to get them off the trail!”

“Still evacuating civilians, no intel from HQ, you’re all we’ve got right now,” was the reply. “Hawkeye, shake the drones. Stark, find where the drones are piloted from and get there. You’re no match for three Hulkbuster drones on your own.”

Tony knew he was right, but he couldn’t stand turning his back on the jet that was carrying his entire world onboard. “JARVIS, trace the signals, find me the mobile unit.” Tony cursed. “Nobody can even fire missiles without risking the lock going crazy and hitting the jet. JARVIS, hurry it up, okay?”

“Sir, the coordinates are uploading now. The unit is in motion,” he supplied and Tony waited for the plot to pop up before his eyes and then immediately veered, heading towards the marker.

“Coulson! Mobile unit in New Jersey, just across the water, I’m heading there now,” he reported, flying as hard as he could, pushing his thrusters as much as they could handle because he knew any second from now, one well-aimed shot and his entire world would crumble. “Please,” he whispered to himself. “Ross, you’re going to die.” 

“Left here!” JARVIS ordered and Tony turned really fast down a street, spotting a large armored vehicle ahead of him. 

“Visual on piloting unit. I’m taking it, Coulson.”

“Stark, SHIELD orders you to not kill them-“

“The hell I’m not-“

“But I say do whatever you have to. Protect your family, pay the consequences later,” Coulson finished.

“Yes, sir,” Tony said, slowing down when he got above the armored vehicle. “Lasers, JARVIS,” he said, powering up his lasers so he could neatly slice a hole in the top. He felt bad about whoever was following orders that was about to die, but it was soldiers following a corrupt official outside of Army permission, or Amelia. The choice was easy. “Bombs away,” he said tersely, firing a rocket from his wrist down into the vehicle, stopping in midair to watch as the vehicle continued on another fifty feet before blowing apart from the inside out. “Unit down, I repeat, pilots down, Hawkeye, what’s your status?” he asked.

There was only static.

“Hawkeye?” Tony repeated. “Coulson, what’s going on, Hawkeye isn’t responding. Hawkeye, your status!” he said more clearly.

There was no response from anyone. 

Tony’s breath came quickly and he shot up, going high as he went back towards the last coordinates trajectory. “JARVIS, reading on the jet.” He saw smoke rising from the outskirts of the city and felt his heart leap. “JARVIS REPORT!”

“The smoke you see is from one of the drones. The other two continued after Agent Barton however and… I’m sorry sir,” JARVIS replied hesitantly. “It appears Agent Barton was forced to try and out-maneuver the drones-“

“No,” Tony breathed, horror dawning on him. “No, no, no, it can’t be.”

“The quinjet was hit just before the drones fell from the sky, sir.” JARVIS was silent for a moment before a map came up on the screen, showing a crash-site out near Sands Point, close to the water.

“Coulson, the quinjet is down,” Tony said gravely, hearing nothing in response. “JARVIS, keep trying to get that back to someone,” he said, flying for the marker on the map. “Survivability of the crash?” he asked JARVIS in a last ditch effort on hope.

After a moment JARVIS’s reply was the final nail through Tony’s heart. “I’m sorry, sir, but no one could have survived the impact.”

Tony remained silent as he cleared the water and flew towards the smoking wreck just off the beach in a marshy area. He circled the shattered wreckage before landing. He had trouble standing in the sand on the beach wearing his suit, but it didn’t really matter the moment JARVIS reported no signs of life on board. He would have fallen to his knees out of the suit either way. “No,” he choked out, tears spilling down his cheeks. “God no,” he whispered.

Suddenly the suit was too hot. It was too small. Too tight. Everything was constricting. He pulled the quick-releases and let the suit pieces fall of off him. He stood up to kick off the leg pieces and then stumbled back, falling to his knees again as he looked at the wreckage with his own eyes. It was a mess. He knew there was no way they survived. “Oh God, oh God!” he cried, putting his head in his hands. “Amelia,” he sobbed, face in his hands. “Not my daughter. Not her,” he moaned.

And then he heard a heavy, dull thud behind him, as if something landed in the sand up the coast. Tony dragged himself to his feet, expecting another attack, an attack he wasn’t at all afraid of when he had nothing left to lose. Before he could turn, however, he heard the one sound he wanted to hear more than anything in the world.

“Tony.”

Heart in his throat, Tony spun around, only to stagger at the sight that met him. Hulk was standing twenty yards away. He hadn’t doubted that Hulk would come out upon impact. However, after the shock of Banner’s despair at losing his child inside of Hulk, Tony expected he would have made it all the way to Canada by now. Instead, he was standing there with a miracle in his left hand.

Amelia was cradled more gently than Tony would have thought possible in Hulk’s massive hand, looking absolutely unharmed. When she saw it really was Tony, she screamed again. “TONY!” She reached out over Hulk’s thick fingers, leaning to him. “Tony!”

Tony noticed Barton unconscious in Hulk’s other hand, hanging limply, but as much as he would normally worry about his teammate, nothing in the world could stop Tony from sprinting across the ground between them, eyes on Amelia the whole time. “Amelia! Oh God!” he cried, sliding to a halt in front of Hulk, reaching for Amelia without any thought to the fact that a nine foot _Hulk_ was holding her. “Come here, Princess, oh my God,” he laughed, surprised when Hulk let go of her when he picked her up out of his fist. Tony pulled her into his arms and promptly fell to his knees, everything in him giving out as he wept into her hair, rocking in place.

“Hurt.” Tony looked up at Hulk’s voice. Hulk’s eyes were surprisingly clear for the ordeal he had been through. “Baby Banner hurt?” he asked, poking at Tony surprisingly gently.

Tony shook his head, wiping his face with one dirty hand. “She’s okay. She’s fine,” he said, looking her over. “You’re okay, Amelia.”

“Birdy hurt,” Hulk grunted, holding out Barton, who was still limp in his arm. “Help Birdy,” he said, laying him on the ground next to Tony.

Tony sat Amelia down and crawled over to check to see if Barton was even breathing. He was relieved to find he seemed to just be unconscious. He had a gash along his hairline and blood all down the side of his head, but there were no other obvious major injuries. “He’s okay, Big Guy,” he said, looking up at Hulk. “I think he’s going to be okay.” He pulled Barton’s radio out of his vest and clicked it. “Anybody there?” he asked.

“Stark?! This is Hawkeye’s line,” Coulson’s voice called out. “The GPS was activated on your suit, we’re coming to get you. Does this mean you found him?”

Tony laughed slightly hysterically. “Hulk saved them, he saved them both. Barton is unconscious but he’s alive. Amelia is fine. Hulk must’ve… hell, grabbed them and jumped through the plane before it crashed? I don’t even know, but they’re alive.” He looked up at Hulk and beamed. “You did good, Hulk. Good job.”

Hulk huffed. “Puny Banner and puny Birdy and tiny Banner. Hulk do all by self,” he explained and Tony nodded.

“You did it all by yourself and you did well. Thank you,” he said firmly. “Thank you so much.”

“Banner scared,” he said and Tony frowned until Hulk tapped his head. “Banner scared.”

“You can feel Bruce?” he asked and Hulk nodded. “Hey, you want to let Bruce come back? He won’t be scared if he can see that ‘tiny Banner’ is safe,” he said, pulling Amelia back into his arms when she crawled to him. 

Hulk didn’t respond, but he seemed to waver slightly, eyes drooping before he suddenly sat down heavily and began to fold in on himself. Tony watched as he shrunk and his skin changed colors until eventually Bruce was lying in a much larger depression than his body would have made.

“Daddy?” Amelia asked, looking confused. 

Tony chuckled. “Yeah, that’s gonna be difficult to explain,” he said, kissing her hair. He stood up and walked over with her, tugging Bruce’s torn pants up enough so that he wouldn’t be even more embarrassed when the rescue team arrived. He reached out and slid his hand through Bruce’s dirty, sandy hair, shifting to hold his face in his hand. “Wake up, sleeping beauty,” he whispered, then leaned down to kiss Bruce gently. “Never thought I’d do that again,” he admitted more to himself than anybody else. 

When Bruce opened his eyes, the first thing he did was reach for Amelia. “Thank God,” he breathed tiredly. “Tony, tell me I’m not dreaming. Please.”

Tony smiled, laying down beside Bruce, exhausted from all the emotions himself. “This isn’t a dream. You and Amelia survived. I survived. I think Barton survived.” He reached out and caught his hand. “But you’re thanking the wrong ‘Big Guy’, this time. Hulk saved you when I was too slow.”

Bruce smiled tiredly, eyes nearly shut again. “Then thank Hulk.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony refused to let go of Amelia for anything. Bruce was too tired to carry her, so Tony carried her and kept his hand in Bruce’s (too raw from coming close to losing them) as they walked through the helicarrier. Since New York was still in a panic, they had forgone SHIELD headquarters and took to the sky, even if the situation was over before SHIELD had any boots on the ground.

They had done their job, however, and captured Ross.

Steve had stayed to help Pepper direct emergency responses at the tower, due to a few fires on a few floors, but Coulson and Natasha had come with the rescue crew to pick up Bruce, Tony, Amelia, and Barton. Barton was in medical with a concussion and a few stitches, but nothing worse to report. Coulson fell into step with the other three (and baby) as they headed towards the detention level where Fury was having a word with Ross. “Stark, this may not be the best place for Amelia to be-“

“She just survived a plane crash, I’m not putting her down for anything short of an act of God and Thor isn’t here right now, he’s still back at the tower,” Tony dismissed. When they walked into the conference room where Ross was handcuffed to the table leg while a medic patched up his face, Tony felt Bruce’s hand squeeze his. “Hey, if you need-“

“I’m good,” Bruce said calmly. He then dropped Tony’s hand, walked right past Fury, and to everyone’s surprise drew back and punched Ross right in the face, knocking his entire chair over, getting in one good kick before two guards could grab him. “YOU NEARLY KILLED MY DAUGHTER YOU PSYCHOTIC BASTARD!” he shouted angrily. Tony saw a few of the people in the room edging towards the door in fear of a Hulk appearance, but Tony knew better. That was all Bruce. 

Bruce walked back over to Tony, shaking out his fist after he had been released and Tony smirked, leaning close so only he would hear. “That was easily the hottest thing I’ve ever seen you do, just so you know.”

Bruce chuckled. “That felt so good,” he admitted, leaning against Tony, looking tired still. Amelia was still asleep in Tony’s arms, even with the commotion, and Bruce just laid his lips against her hair as he leaned on Tony some. 

“Dr. Banner, would you care to explain your actions just now?” Fury asked, stalking over, looking so intimidating a few people backed away.

Bruce however, just stood up and raised an eyebrow. “Trying to beat the shit out of the man who nearly killed my child,” he supplied in such a deadpan tone that Tony cracked up, snickering.

Fury shook his head. “I knew the minute you two met on the bridge that you’d be bigger trouble together than Stark already was.”

Bruce shrugged. “With absolutely no due respect – since you’ve proven to be more of an asshole than most anybody else over various occasions – my family is none of your business and I don’t give a damn what you think about us being ‘trouble’. Right now, what I care about, is what you’re going to do with the psycho who just tried to kill me and nearly killed my child in the process.” The entire room was silent. Even Ross was staring in shock.

Coulson almost looked impressed. Tony just took a breath and blurted out, “Please say you’ll marry me!” before he could even let his brain catch up with his mouth.

Bruce rolled his eyes. “Maybe later,” he answered with an absent wave of his hand. 

Director Fury looked astonished. “Nuclear physicist, Bruce Banner-“

“No, right now I’m not Dr. Banner, right now I’m Pissed Off Dad, Bruce Banner,” he argued. “I’m not at all joking right now. You better give me details on how long he’s going to go without seeing the light of day or you’ll _wish_ I was about to lose control of the Hulk,” he promised, his face leaving absolutely no doubt of his sincerity. “I hacked into the Pentagon from Sri Lanka with a ten year old laptop and a satellite phone three years ago to shut the power grid down long enough to expose how much energy one building can eat up, do you really want to think about what I could do to SHIELD when I live with the most technologically advanced man in the world?” he asked with a deathly calm voice. “You give me details. _Now_. You make me believe that the piece of shit sitting over there is never going to so much as contact the outside world.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment until Tony chuckled. “Yep, definitely marrying your daddy, Princess,” he mumbled to Amelia, ruining the effect of Bruce’s threat when Bruce rolled his eyes fondly.

Fury just nodded. “Alright, I can’t promise the ‘never see the light of day’ but I can guarantee he’s up for a court martial and prison. That’s for damn sure.”

“I can’t believe SHIELD is siding with a science experiment gone wrong over a decorated General,” Ross started from where he was handcuffed to the table. “You belong on a dissection table. You’re nothing but a monster,” he spat and Bruce just raised an eyebrow.

“I’m the monster, yet you nearly killed you own granddaughter in an attempt to kill me?” He shook his head. “To think I ever looked up to you. I was _grateful_ for you,” he said tightly. “I thought you were the one who saved my life for a long time, Ross. Then after the accident, you were the monster in the dark, you were the one who wanted to kill me.” He shrugged. “I don’t hate what became of me anymore. I don’t hate the Hulk anymore. I got over my shit. I got on with my life. You are the only one who is a monster, Ross, because you want hulk in a lab so badly that you nearly killed your own granddaughter today.” He shook his head. “I would ask ‘doesn’t that mean anything to you’ but you’re nothing but a monster anymore. You used to love your daughter, stands to reason you would at least give pause to the fact Amelia was in that tower before you ordered the attack, but in the end, I guess Betty knew you were far enough gone if she sent Amelia to me instead of to you.”

Ross growled. “Why would I want anything to do with a child that’s part-monster?” 

Bruce nodded calmly. “Good you feel that way, because I can guarantee you that no matter what happens to me, you will _never_ be in a position to have any effect on her life now. You will never hurt her, you will never contact her, and you will never so much as be thought about by any of us now. I lived in fear for so long I forgot what it was like to feel worth anything but my days of running are over.” He shook his head. “When I leave here, I won’t ever think about you again with fear under the surface. I hope you’re happy with what your greed and madness turned you into, Ross.”

Fury raised an eyebrow. “Well that was dramatic.” He gestured to Ross. “Get him locked up and get someone ready to deliver him to the Army’s custody. Court martial is their business, not mine.”

Bruce turned and walked over to Tony, then nodded to Coulson, who led them out. Tony nudged Bruce. “You okay?” he asked softly.

Bruce smiled and nodded. “I’m awesome,” he said, leaning over to kiss Amelia’s hair. “I’ll be glad to go somewhere I can rest and get clothes that fit,” he said, looking at the baggy flight suit he’d been given.”

Tony nodded. “When we leave here, I’m flying the team to another house to stay while the tower is being fixed. Again.” He smiled. “I’m thinking somewhere tropical. Nice weather, sandy beaches, no distractions.”

Bruce chuckled. “Don’t you have an island in the Caribbean?” he asked and Tony grinned brightly.

“Why yes I do! Want to go play pirates with me, Cap’n Banner?” he asked in a half-assed pirate accent.

Bruce slid his hand into Tony’s. “Yeah, sounds nice, really.”

“Then that’s where we’ll go.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
For the night, the team was staying in dorms on the helicarrier. Tony and Bruce had snagged a decent sized one since they had to have space to fit all three of them in bed. They had managed to get two cots and a double air-mattress so that they could sleep with Amelia between them. Both of them were uneasy with the idea of letting her out of reach.

Tony, however, couldn’t stop looking at them both. He stroked a curl out of Amelia’s face, then looked up and smiled lovingly as he pushed a very similar curl out of Bruce’s eyes as he watched Tony. “I’ve never been more grateful for something or someone in my life than I am right now. When I thought I had lost her, I was ready to give up and stop living right then and there.”

Bruce frowned. “You still haven’t explained what happened. I know Hulk was protecting them, but you didn’t explain your part of it.”

Tony flinched, closing his eyes only to open them again quickly with a gasp, choosing instead to keep his eyes on Amelia. “I stopped the drones but JARVIS said the plane had already been shot down by then. I flew as fast as I could, but when I got there, it was already just a smoldering wreck on the beach and into the marsh. Nobody was around. I thought-“ He swallowed hard. “I knew Hulk would’ve lived, but I thought for sure Barton and Amelia were dead and Hulk had ran for it and I’d never see you again. I wouldn’t blame you for letting Hulk take over and never coming back if Amelia had been killed. I was so sure she couldn’t survive and I just-“ He swallowed thickly. “I broke down. I had to quick-release the suit because I was having a full on breakdown. I laid on the beach and cried, I was ready to just stop existing it hurt so bad.” He smiled weakly. “Then I heard the most beautiful thing ever. Amelia called my name. I turned around and Hulk was there with them both in his hands. I guess you changed mid-air and he jumped with them.” Tony shook his head, hair scratching on the rough pillow. “It was the biggest relief ever, but for five minutes – the longest five minutes in the history of human existence – I knew what it was to think that our daughter was dead and that you were gone and it was the most devastating and horrific experience of my life.”

Bruce slid closer so that he could kiss Tony over Amelia’s head, curling his fingers in Tony’s hair. “I’m so sorry you had to ever feel that. God, I thought it was terrible walking out thinking you were about to die,” he said then shuddered. “I should kick your ass for that, Tony Stark, I really should.”

Tony snorted. “For what, trying to give you time to run? I’d die for Amelia in a second, Bruce-“

“I know, I understand it,” Bruce countered. “But still… You told me goodbye,” he accused. “You looked me in the eyes, told me you loved me, and you said a final goodbye ina way that made me truly believe I would never see you again.” He swallowed, blinking hard. “And Amelia-“ He choked, clearing his throat. “Amelia crying and reaching for you when I knew we’d never see you again broke my heart, Tony,” he whispered wetly, looking up with tears in his eyes. “She was crying for you and holding her arms out and she _screamed_ for you to come too, and I just knew she’d never see you again and she’d never understand what happened to you and I was already breaking down imagining losing you, but her losing you was so heartbreaking I cried the whole way through getting on the plane.”

Tony reached out and wiped away a tear from Bruce’s eye. “I’m so sorry we had to go through anything that happened today. I never wanted any of us to experience so much pain and fear. I never wanted Amelia to be afraid like that.” He smiled sadly. “I know we have obligations to be Avengers, but I think for a while after this, barring ‘the end is nigh’ scenarios, Iron Man and Hulk can kind of just sit out the super hero business for a little while.”

Bruce nodded. “Agreed. At least until we’re sure Amelia isn’t going to face losing her parents on a regular basis like this.” They both lay silent for a while, mostly just watching Amelia sleep, before Bruce spoke again. “So, I know you mostly just say it for a joke, or to embellish, but… the ‘marry me’ thing… any chance you’d be into that?” he asked, trying to sound dismissive. 

Tony smirked. “Honey, I’ll marry you tomorrow.”

“Tony, I’m serious,” Bruce chastised softly. “We don’t have to, but I just feel like it would be safer for Amelia. You would at least have some legal rights to her in case something did happen to me.”

Tony caught Bruce’s hand. “Is that the only reason? I mean, I’m sure I can have legal work done without marriage if that’s your only goal.”

Bruce shrugged. “I never pictured marrying you before Amelia, but there are a lot of benefits to it.” He smiled at him almost wistfully and Tony paid closer attention. “After the accident, I stopped thinking I could have things I wanted before, Tony. Since I’ve been with you, and especially since Amelia…” He shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s probably stupid, but I’ve been able to feel like I can have things I wanted. I can have a family, and be married, and do work that matters to the world, and _enjoy_ a happy life with my family. In the past maybe it was wife and kids, but the idea of husband and one child is more than enough after so long thinking I’d never be able to love someone again.”

Tony’s heart ached at the longing in Bruce’s eyes. “I never imagined marriage or a child before, but I also never allowed for _you_. I’ve proven once today that I would die for you and Amelia. If you have dreams of being married and everything that entails, I will marry you whenever, however, and wherever you want, Bruce. You and Amelia are my everything and I’m never giving you guys up. I’d invent a way to increase the gravitational pull to the moon so that it could be drawn into earth and tethered if you wanted it. A more legally binding promise to love you and Amelia forever is nothing at all.”

Bruce smirked. “The scientific version of ‘I’d catch you the moon’ was the most perfect thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“Then it’s official, you’re keeping me,” Tony decided, resting his hand on Bruce’s hip. 

Bruce closed his eyes and fought a delighted look. “Sounds good to me.”


End file.
